Kim Possible: Senior Year
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: The world didn't end...but now they face their greatest challenge... The last year of High School!  Final Chapter up.
1. Default Chapter

Kim Possible: Senior Year.

Authors notes: This is going to be a semi-regular story. Updates will depend on writers block, other gigs and the progress of a certain Master's thesis. As the title says, ultimately, it should cover Ron and Kim's last year in High School- although other characters will be playing a larger role.

Note: Comes after "Fire and Darkness".

* * *

_Shego's crisis_

It started not a week after the world had almost come to an end, and Kim and Ron had pulled it all out. Shego had checked herself out of the hospital, and moved into one of her numerous safe houses— an apartment in Middleton. Kimmie and Ron could do with some looking after, she told herself.

There was also the problem that there just wasn't much _work_ right now. Most of the usual suspects were either on hiatus…or outright retired. It wasn't that Shego didn't have money…but she was, unaccountably, bored. The resorts were still closed, and Kimmie and Ron were helping (as much as their parents would let them), to get the school ready. Hell, you couldn't go to _sleep_ for all the hammering and banging that was going on. Middleton had been closest to the epicenter, and right now seemed to be in a contest with every other city to see who could erase the evidence of what had happened fastest.

"Of course." Shego muttered, pulling a pillow over her head. "We couldn't possibly remember how close we came—have to get busy so we can be stupid _all over_ again." Then the clock radio started up with a happy tune (and damnit, when would they get back to some genuine music! It's been a week, already!).

"This is to remind you, the I310 is still closed between Fifth and Elm streets, so you'll have to divert around it." Shego grinned at that. Wade and Kyoko's creation had managed to shoot down or disarm most of the missile—but had decided to ignore the non-nuclear warheads, which meant a HSKEP (Hyper Sonic, Kinetic Energy Penetrator) MIRV warhead had put a 90 foot deep hole right in the middle of the 310. They weren't going to patch _that_ one up with a few shovels of asphalt.

Shego finally gave up and got up, showering and getting ready. They might have some food other than canned goods… Kimmie had mentioned that the trains and trucks were running again, so maybe she should head out to the store. It'd beat sitting in here, that was for certain.

She would have to start looking for work pretty soon, Shego thought. She was going plumb stircrazy…even her soap operas, along with most television shows were on hiatus. Absently, she locked the door, and came to the steps for the first floor of the apartment building.

Then she looked down.

_Oh God. No. You've jumped from airplanes without a parachute, you've climbed mountains… _It didn't help. Shego felt beads of sweat cover her face as she reached out and grabbed the stair rail. One step. Another Step. Stop.

Ten minutes later, she was on the ground floor, trembling in exhaustion and reaction.

_What is happening to me?_ Shego wondered. Maybe she should go to Dr. Drakken…

"Yeah, as if his inventions work so well…he'd probably try to make a mind control chip and…" Shego groaned. She'd just wait a while and see if things changed. She could drive the car and… Abruptly she decided to wait a minute. She'd just sit on this bottom step for a few minutes…resting.

* * *

_Bueno Nacho._

"And thus… symmetry is restored to the universe." Ron said, downing his first Naco since the disaster. Bueno Nacho was reopened, and Ron, Kim, Rufus, Monique and Bonnie were eating there….although most of the windows were still covered with wood. Monique looked around at it.

"Glass makers are going to clean up…" She said, "Who would have thought that there was so much glass in the town." The others nodded, and Ron, downing his meal, covertly glanced at the others, and the patrons of the store. The nightmare (had it been a week ago?) was fading already, especially among the younger set…and many of the older set as well. A…psychological defense mechanism, Kim's mom had called it, and pronounced it healthy…as was the frantic pace of reconstruction. Certainly Bonnie and Monique were ok…although it was still, at times, odd to be eating with Bonnie.

Bonnie, for her part was watching Kim. This would take careful timing.

"So Kim…" Bonnie said casually, as Kim was drinking. The teen kept drinking her coke, no doubt waiting for Bonnie to continue. Bonnie waited until Kim would be swallowing at just the right time…

"Does Ron wear his maddog head to bed with you?" She said and quickly raised the folder she held. Monique hadn't been in the loop and was suddenly treated to a Kim-coke fountain.

"Aigh!" she said as Kim started choking and coughing.

"Bon-hack, cough, cough." Kim was trying to talk, but nothing was coming out as Ron pounded her on the back.

"That was _rude_, girl." Monique said, then… "At least you could have warned me!" She continued, dabbing at her shirt with a napkin.

"Oh, where would the fun have been in that." Bonnie said, "Besides, they deserve it…"

"We do?" Ron asked.

"We do?" Kim said.

"Yes…do you know right now you are the two most famous kids in town?"

"Ron _did_ save the world, Bonnie." Kim pointed out.

"Not for anything unimportant like that…" Bonnie continued, "You and Ron are _doing it_, and your parents know…and neither one of you has been sent to military school." Ron and Kim looked at each other.

_"Everyone?_" Ron asked.

"Well, except for the chess club." Bonnie said. Then she looked at the other three. "I didn't say anything." She continued, "as if I had to—they way you two have been…please, a blind man could see it." She paused, "Like right now." Kim had recovered from her coughing fit and had somehow ended up with Ron's arms around her.

"So what would you recommend, Bonnie?" Bonnie laughed.

"Take pride!" She grinned, "Kim, we're all… _Seniors!_ We can do no wrong—we're the ones the freshmen will look up to!" She indicated the Bueno Nacho, "Where ever we sit is our domain!" Kim and Ron looked at each other and blinked.

"So….saving the world was…" Bonnie airily waved her hand at Kim's expression.

"…An important step in allowing me to enjoy my senior year." She replied. Now all three were looking at her.

"What?" Bonnie said. "It's not like that was difficult to figure out." Kim, Ron, and Monique looked at each other and nodded, and suddenly Bonnie squalled as a tide of crumpled up napkins came her way. A snarl from the manager brought them back to normality, and Monique took up the conversation.

"So girlfriend…what's happening with Wade and Kyoko's baby?" Kim grinned. All of her inner circle, which now included (God help them both) Bonnie, knew the full story about Baby.

"Baby has decided, on second thought, to relinquish control over the orbital weapon platforms… at the same rate as the deactivation of missiles takes place." Bonnie blinked.

"And that means?"

"Baby's going to give back the platforms, at the same time nobody has any more missiles for them to shoot down." Ron said.

"Why?" Monique asked.

"Well…" Kim said, taking a sip from her coke (and _watching _Bonnie this time), "Baby's… changing, and decided that people would only get freaked if they thought she was a threat."

"She wasn't the one launching missiles." Monique said darkly. "I'd let her keep them." Kim shrugged.

"I don't know." Ron said, "Nobody's going to have any missiles to fire, so why keep something if people'll just get freaked over it." Kim grinned.

"Yeah, well Baby's working with the Tweebs…and _that's_ what people should be freaked over." She finished, as they all got up and started back to school. There was a _lot_ of work to get done if school was going to open within a month of when it was supposed to. Kim giggled. It better open—if it didn't, then well, they'd have _Bonnie Rockwaller _to answer to.

* * *

_Shego._

"-ma'am?" Shego started, looked down at the shopping cart and up at the confused clerk.

"Yes?" She said, conveying annoyance.

"You… you seemed to be in a daze." The clerk said, "I was about to call the manager."

"What?" Shego said, blinking. "I was just reading this boring magazine that…"

Was on the floor where it had evidently slipped from her fingers. Shego looked up at the clock and tried to remember the time… She couldn't. The last time she'd seen the clock it had been nearly ten minutes ago and she'd been coming up to the clerk.

"Do you want me to call someone?" The clerk asked.

"No…" Shego shook her head, "No, I'll be fine."

_I'm not fine. What the hell is wrong?_ Shego sat down right outside the store. If she didn't get a handle on this…unemployment was in her future. Nobody hired a mercenary who might decide to zone out in the middle of the fight. She couldn't call Drakken, or DNAmy—even if they were available, it'd be as good as shouting her problem from the heights.

There was one person she could go to. God…how had she fallen so low… She sighed, and pulled out a celphone. On the other hand, Kimmie had given a _wonderful_ object lesson in how smart ignoring a problem was…

"Middleton Hospital." The chirpy voice answered. Shego groaned again and then spoke.

"Is Doctor Andrea Possible in…"

_To be continued._


	2. House Guests

Middleton Hospital, 2:45 PM.

Shego was surprised to see how quiet the hospital was—the walls were still stained with soot in some areas, and many windows were boarded up, but by and large it looked fairly sleepy. Surprisingly, Dr. Possible was waiting for her.

"Dr. Possible?" Shego asked, surprised. "What are you doing out here?"

"The secretary is on break, and half the staff is transferred all over the country right now, helping with the clean up, and since we still don't have 24 hour power… a lot of procedures are being rescheduled." The red head answered. "So…we're all kind of doing double duty." She smiled. "Now… I'm assuming that you've finally decided to be a dear and stop avoiding me when I leave messages on your answering machine wanting a check up."

"Well…" Shego frowned. _She's Kim's mom… do you think she's going to stay quiet if you hand her a weakness she can use?_ The natural answer came back to that. _You were about as helpless as could be when she was putting you back together…_ _But Still…_

"Yeah." Shego said heartily, "I decided that after you and Kimmie had done so much, I could reciprocate."

"Mmmm…" Andrea said, indicating the door. "Well, then we'll start with a basic physical."

Inside, Shego quickly put on the hospital gown that Dr. Possible offered her and they started with the exam. Andrea looked at a data pad, and asked the air.

"Baby, is the MRI free?"

"No. Dr. Possible, it is booked until tomorrow at 6 PM. Shall I reserve an appointment?" Shego blinked.

"Baby's working at the hospital?" Dr. Possible smiled,

"Among other places… I'm going to have to give Wade and Kyoko a Christmas present." Shego groaned.

"What?"

"Do you know _how_ many times Dr. D tried to make an AI?" There was a pause from Dr. Possible.

"They never worked?"

"That's an understatement." Andrea looked at Shego and tilted her head.

"What is going on with you and Drew right now?"

"Nothing… well nothing much." Shego said, "He's _forty_, for crying out loud…and everyone seems to think that we-" _oops _"Not that being forty is a _bad_ thing, I mean." She wilted in front of Dr. Possible's gaze.

"Well…" Dr. Possible said, "I wouldn't know, since I'm 39…"

_Dig that hole, girl! _Shego's brain told her.

"Besides, he can't dance." Shego finished, lamely, even to her ears.

"hmmm…" Dr. Possible said, giving her level gaze and then smiled.

"Don't worry Shego, I'll just have to inform Jonathon tonight that I feel old and he needs to prove me wrong." A bigger smile, "And prove also that you and Drakken never _did_ know the right weapon to defeat Kim Possible—send her running into the night, vowing to never break into your hideout's unannounced."

"Oh?" Shego asked fascinated.

"Coming in at 15 to see her parents making out." Dr. Possible deadpanned. "Almost caused a catastrophic heart failure….and at such a young age, too." She grinned, "And then made us swear on a stack of bibles that we would never engage in such _unnatural_ behavior ever again."

With that, they started the medical exam. Two hours later, it was finished.

"Well… from your records…." Dr. Possible said, "I can say your comet powers are…impressive."

"That I can walk?" Shego asked.

"That you aren't eating through a tube." Possible answered. "Shego…I've never seen anyone so beaten as you were." She paused, "What about problems?"

_Maybe I should wait on the blank spaces._ Shego thought. _But…_ She sighed.

"Yeah…I've been having a few." She paused, "And this is between us, right?"

"Heh…Ask Kimmie why I missed her 12th birthday." Shego blinked.

"Why?"

"A judge wanted a patient consultation…and well, long story short…I spent a week in jail over it." She paused, "I can't get honesty if I might go off and tell." Shego nodded. No better promise than that…and this was important.

"I've been having…blank spots." The beautiful mercenary told the doctor. "I'll…be standing and all of a sudden the clock just moves ten minutes."

"When you're alone?" Shego groaned.

"No…I had one in the checkout line." Andrea tapped her stylus against the pad.

"That…could indicate that you have not healed your brain damage fully."

"Well, duh!" Shego said. "The comet helped heal everything else."

"Including some of the damage to your hair, I see." Dr. Possible said, smiling slightly. Shego reached up and touched her hair, already long enough to serve as a serviceable bob.

"Yeah.. it gets to about this point and then really slows down—It'll be six months before I'm back…" Then, refusing to be distracted, Shego continued. "So why isn't it doing the same with the _inside_ of my head?"

"You should be happy it isn't eager to screw with your head, Shego." Dr. Possible said. "Remember, that brain contains your memory…personality… what if the comet power decided to heal it by resetting it to say…the way it was when you were five?" Shego gulped, as Dr. Possible continued, "Shego, there were micro lesions and burst vessels throughout your entire brain…far too many for us to work on." She sighed, "If we'd had a full staff and room, you would still be under observation…but as it was, well…" Shego remembered—three to a room and they'd be cleared out the minute it looked like they wouldn't die for other casualties.

"Well… you have to-"

"But, we can transfer you in now…and I want you to check in so we can observe you."

"NO." Shego said. "Do you know how vulnerable a hospital is? I kidnapped Kim out of a more secured place then this one!"

"Shego, the world just almost came to an end…do you really think people are looking for you right now?"

"Look… trust me on this, staying here is a bad idea…and I'll just hang in my apartment for a while…" Shego said, "I can stay out of sight and I'll-"

"Shego… seizures are not normal and can cause damage, at the very least —what if you fall down and hurt yourself?"

"Oh Please." Shego said, offended, "Do you think I'm that-" She blinked as the edge of her vision turned kaleidoscopic. She shook her head.

"….Shego?" She heard Dr. Possibles voice like it was coming from the bottom of a well. Shego shook her head again and glared at Dr. Possible.

"Look, Doc, I'm FINE!" She said and barely had time to think _oh no_, before her vision dissolved into sparks of color and darkness.

* * *

Shego woke up, tasting blood, where she'd bitten her lip. Feeling something soft under her, she realized that Andrea had pillowed her head in her lap.

"My…_that_ was an impressive _Grand Mal _seizure." The red head said. "Pretty long, too—five minutes, and then better than 3 minutes after that, before you came out of it." Shego licked her lips Andrea asked her to speak "give me the water." then accepted the proffered cup of water.

"Why didn't you stick something in my mouth to keep me from biting my tongue…or swallowing it?" She asked.

"Because I'm a doctor, and like every doctor, I wish that old wives' tale would _die_." Andrea replied, "Do you know how many people die of 'swallowing their tongue'? None—but more die from people putting something in their mouth that gets sucked into their windpipe. I asked you to speak before I gave you the water because your color looked fine but I wanted to make sure that your airway was completely open first" She paused, "Do you think you can get up?"

"Sure." Shego said, and rose up, immediately felt dizzy and lay back down again. Then, she looked at Dr. Possible and frowned. "Maybe…I need a hand."

"OK..." And with that, Dr. Possible and Shego, between the two of them, got Shego back into her seat. Shego blinked at the bruise on Dr. Possible.

"Did I hit you?"

"'Hit' implies control… you were flailing around and I got in the way of a fist." Dr. Possible said, and continued. "Has this type of fit happened before?"

"No." Shego gritted out. " But if it's getting worse…" She tried to keep the worry out of her voice. "Doc… my job skills pretty much need me to be able to cross a room without freaking out…" Dr. Possible sighed.

"Well, you could always change." Before Shego could retort, she continued, "But Shego… figuring out what is wrong requires time in the hospital, and I _can't_ jump the line for the MRI. The comet healing ability seems to ensure you aren't in immediate danger of death…which is more than I can say for some of the other patients."

"So I stay home."

"Right…now you don't just have to worry about zoning out…you have to worry about flopping around like a gutted fish." Shego frowned at the image. "_And…_ You'll notice you got that big seizure when you were upset… which indicates they're triggered by stress. Care to guess the odds that if you do get tracked down by an enemy, the same thing happens?" Shego turned pale.

"So what do you suggest?"

"Mmm…. Not Drew…if he's anything like Jonathon, when he's in the lab the Last Trumpet could sound and they wouldn't notice it."

"Oh yeah…"

"Not the hospital…" She snapped her fingers. "Our house!"

_"What?"_

"Certainly—Kim and Ron are there a lot, Hirotaka as well as Yori are staying with Ron's parents, especially since school hasn't started yet…and it's close enough so that if anything happens during the day, they can get back in fast…and the twins are there pretty much all the time…at least until school starts." She smiled, "If you're worried about an attack, Kim and Ron can protect you."

"Kimmie and Ron…protect me!" Shego glared at Ms. Possible, and Andrea returned the gaze with her own, completely unapologetic gaze.

"Name me someone better suited to protect you…that you have never actually managed to defeat." Shego opened her mouth, closed it, and then frowned.

"That's low." Andrea smiled,

"That's fact…" Then her expression became serious. "Shego… You saved my daughter…that's a debt I cannot repay, but let me try in this small way."

"Ronnie did most of it…"

"Ron is a very good man." Andrea said. "But without your help he never would have gotten to Japan." She paused and the devilish grin was back, "Besides, you can spread the rumor around that it was a way to insure the Possibles would owe you and now you're shamelessly taking advantage." Shego grinned, but Andrea noticed that the grin was a little forced…uncertain.

"How long?"

"At least a week—we have to line up the MRI first, than the CATSCAN, a dozen other little tests…get your full records."

"GJ has them." Shego said. "They did the tests when I was with Go-Team." Dr. Possible nodded,

"That'll help…. Baby?"

"Yes, Doctor Possible?"

"Be a dear and download Shego's records to my computer at home?"

"Very well."

"Thank you," Then to Shego. "And after that we have to develop a methodology… if we can—it may be a matter of waiting for your body to complete healing."

"But it will stop." Shego said. Dr. Possible didn't say anything. "Doc…it _will _stop…right?" Andrea shook her head.

"Shego… I can't make promises like that until I know precisely what is going on…I'm sorry, but I don't tell my patient's lies." Shego sighed.

_It'll go away… it has to.

* * *

_

"Shego is staying here?" Kim asked, blinking.

"Yes, in the guest room." Her mother said, "Kimmie, don't tell me that you of all people are worried?"

"No…but…well…" _Shego is staying in my house and I'm not worried that it's a plot to destroy us…which is **so **weird._

"How about I sneak in and attack you tonight, Kimmie." Shego said, nonchalantly, "That way everything can be normal so you can get your sleep…unless _Ron_ is coming over, that is." She paused, and then in a very Shego voice, "In fact, how about if I just wait until Ron comes over…and surprise you… or maybe a threesome?" Kim turned so red that it looked like she was about to catch fire. Her desperate look at her mom showed Andrea that Shego was doing it to tweak Kim in front of her mother and, well…succeeding.

"Shego's kidding, Kimmie…"

"You sure?" Kim said, looking at Shego. Andrea couldn't resist…she would pay, but she couldn't resist.

"Well unless you haven't told us _everything_ about that trip into Tokyo you took with Shego." Now Kim could have made a fire truck look pale.

"_MOM!"_

"Sorry Kimmie…your mother has to get her laughs somewhere…"

Later, that night, Shego lay in bed. The TV was off—the networks were barely back to six hours a day, and that mostly news and repeats. Eventhe power in the house, save for the emergency nightlights, was dead. Yep… It was their turn for the power rationing—not so much due to the power plants, as the damage to the power grid. She sighed, and looked at the walls. Pictures…

"Geez…. You'd think this was a photography museum." Shego muttered. All those pictures…was there a single park anywhere in the states that the parents _hadn't_ dragged the kids to? With a grumble, she rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

_Hego__ was furious. _

_"How COULD you do this to us! Do you know that that means?" He roared advancing on Shego. All Shego could do was back up against the wall, hands' protectively over her pregnancy swollen belly. She'd known this was a bad idea…but she'd run out of excuses to stay away. _

_"Please, Hego…calm down!" Mego said, looking worried. Shego ran out of wall to slide along, ending up in the corner, hoping Hego wouldn't notice her again. No such luck._

_"That's it…I'm sending you to a clinic in Europe where the baby will be born…and you will not engage in any more shameful behavior like this! You're a minor, I have custody, and you will stay there…if I have to order them to lock you in the room!" Shego looked around desperately for some support, any support…but there was only fury in Hego's face, worry in Mego's. Shego was alone, and found herself slipping down the wall, beginning to sob.

* * *

_

"Ah!" Shego woke up and looked at the clock. Three hours had passed. She growled and glared at the pictures on the wall. Damned pictures. She hadn't dreamed about that for over a year. Shego flopped over on her belly and pulled the pillows over her head.

But sleep was a long time coming.

To be continued.


	3. Interludes and Examinations

**Examinations and Interludes

* * *

**

The next morning was Saturday…and Shego committed perhaps the ultimate sin of her job. She slept in past everyone else.

"Where is Kimmie?" Shego asked, blinking as she came out into the living room. Dr. Possible was still there.

"They're helping put the school back together. Something about the fear of Bonnie being put in them." Dr. Possible said. Shego shook her head.

"I can't believe Kimmie and Ron are _trying_ to get the school put together… they're rich, they don't need school."

"Well, they want to enjoy being seniors…didn't you enjoy your senior year?"

"Hmph… I got out of that in my sophomore year."

"Graduated?"

"Dropped out—" Shego grinned and let a little fire touch her hands, "Who needs an education?" Dr. Possible frowned, but then.

"Mom, help!" The twins…looking very, very scared.

"Boys…what _are_ you wearing?" Their mother asked. They were dressed in… oh no. Ms. Possible tried to keep from giggling, but it looked exactly like...

"Why are you wearing copies of your fathers old bowling uniform?"

"Dad!" Tim said in explination.

"We didn't have a choice…mom, you need us to work at home, right? _Please?_" Jim added.

"So, ready boys?" The twins looked horrified. Their Father and Drew were identically dressed in the proper gear for bowling… gear that would send any right thinking man into the depths of madness. Shego blinked.

"Dr. D?"

"Did I mention, Shego that our team was the most exclusive bowling team in the college?" Shego mutely shook her head.

"Well…given that the requirement's for entry were to wear that uniform in public…" Ms. Possible said in a low tone. "That wasn't too hard to understand."

"Dear, you wore the costume…"

"Thus showing true love." His wife said.

"Yes, but regardless," Drew continued, "It is time to pass the torch! Do you want to come, Shego?" Shego frantically shook her head.

"Ah, no, Dr. D…I have other stuff to do."

"Well… your loss…but Jonathon's children shall learn and carry on the Torch!" he said, the fires of madness lightening his eyes. "And since the power is down so often, they'll even get to see how a bowling alley used to work!"

"Just as long as you don't use the robot bowling ball this time." Drakken looked offended.

"I would never do that—it was just a little joke."

"One that got us banned from the bowling alley for a month."

"Small loss—they didn't rebuild it for a month." Drakken pointed out. "But in any case, I would never—" A series of beeps emanated from his bag and he quickly kicked it. "- do such a thing again." A knock at the door interrupted the discussion and when Mr. Possible answered it, there was Hirotaka and Yori…dressed in the same outfit. Hirotaka looked immaculate and happy in his outfit….Yori looked like she was desperately wanting to emulate smoke and vanish on the breeze.

"This is nothing like our school in Japan!" He said. "I desire to bowl a perfect game!"

"I know…" Yori groaned, looking around for cover. _She _was also wearing the same bowling costume. Hirotaka smiled and grabbed her.

"And maybe we shall meet Ron and Kim-san?"

"Oh no, please." Yori said.

"I hope we don't meet _anybody_." Jim said,

"Especially anyone we may see later!" Tim said.

"Nonsense, boys…you'll be the envy of your school!" Their father assured them. The groans _that_ conjured could have been heard on the other side of the planet. But, looking to their mother and finding no support, Jim and Tim, marching as to their execution, left, followed by the four older individuals…Yori also looking like she was marching to her execution.

"Drew and Jonathon are getting along much better." Andrea said. Shego shook her head.

"He's rich…when I think of all the times we had to knock over a bank and that dumb invention was just sitting there… arrrggghhh." She growled. Then she paused, "So what's for today?"

"EEG, MRI, A few gadgets that don't have any names yet because they used to be classified…" Andrea paused, "We need to first of all establish a baseline—try and figure out what your body is like when it's ok…and that's what the GJ files are for."

"And then?"

"Then we figure out what is wrong." Kim's mother assured her.

* * *

_Middleton High_

"This is really taking too long." Ron muttered. Few teachers were yet at the school…and between them the students had managed to muster some impressive numbers, but they had no organization.

"I'll say." Kim said, wiping her forehead. She and Ron had decided to start on their homeroom today, and an impressive amount of destroyed books were on the floor of the outside hallway, where wrecked lockers and dangling lights showed the impact of the mob that had torn through the school.

"Lot's of people had repressed hostility from high school, evidently." Monique said. Kim nodded.

"But we're not getting anything done!" Bonnie said in frustration ."everyone's running around… Kim—you like to organize…so organize!" Kim grinned. Bonnie telling her to organize.

"Good point, Bonnie." A voice came from the door and Ron looked over.

"Hey, Felix!"

"Hey, Ron—heard you two saved the world again."

"Well, there was a lot of help." Ron answered. "Where were you?"

"Mom and I were stuck at home…with a bunch of people on the streets we couldn't make it into the space center." Felix answered. "Then mom felt herself start to…lose it." There was a communal wince—most of the students had seen how badly their parents had been affected, although, thank god, being a parent also seemed to buffer individuals from the worst of the madness, " and she had me tranquilize her….then I was just a matter of waiting on the roof and keeping them from burning the house down." They all nodded, and when Felix didn't continue, the matter was dropped. The unspoken law was that if people wanted to talk about it, they could, but nobody asked.

"Yeah, Bonnie's right." Kim said. "we need to get everyone working in one section at a time…"

"Wish a few teachers were here."

"Some are…but well…" Everyone looked around. "Without Barkin…"

"Yep." Ron said. He grinned, "But that gives us the perfect excuse to use the school loudspeaker! We'll put out the call and get everyone into the Gym and then we can get some stuff done!"

"Working to make school ready," Felix groused. Kim giggled, remembering the Bueno Nacho chat.

"No, working to let Bonnie have the spotlight."

"Huh?" Felix asked. Ron laughed.

"Give me a hand and I'll tell you the tale."

* * *

_Middleton Hospital._

Shego and Andrea were in the cafeteria, after a grueling series of tests. Shego was back in her green and black, very stylish dress, with a floppy hat disguising her hair.

_She really is sensitive about that._ Andrea thought.

"Well, that's about it… I've run your EEG, and just about every other test I can think of… and bad news…and good news." Andrea told Shego.

"What?"

"I _think_, your brain is repairing itself…and those seizures may be a symptom of that."

"A symptom of _repairing _itself?" Shego stared. "How is this repairing?" Andrea got a cup of coffee and considered how to tell her.

"Shego… if you have a house with structural damage… you have two choices. You can knock down the main beams all at once…in which case it collapses…or you can fix it piecemeal." She put the coffee down. "I think that the damage to your brain was too serious to be healed all at once, not without serious risk to your mind…so what's happening is your brain is rewiring itself…and sometimes, you get a minor seizure when wires cross."

"And the big, stress related ones?"

"You start getting more active, your brain is more likely to have a short circuit." Shego glared.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me." The mercenary said. "When will it stop?"

"I don't know." Andrea replied. "Maybe tomorrow…maybe never. That's what the MRI will help us detect—I'm hoping that by analyzing it, in comparison to your GJ MRI and EEG, we can see how much of the brain is still damaged, and what speed the repairs are progressing at."

"Can't you give me a drug to stop it?"

"No." Andrea said flatly. "And I hope you won't, to put it frankly, be as stupid as Kim was and try to self medicate. Your comet exposure makes this a unique problem…and it's to risky since we still don't know what drugs will work for you."

"Andrea… I _need_ to be a hundred percent." Shego said, and Andrea suddenly noticed that a very slight tremor had entered her hands.

_Well of course…how long has it been since she depended on anyone?_

"I'll do my best." Andrea said, and continued, consulting the printout, "Now, I also have some notes here that you spent time in a European clinic back when you were sixteen…but Baby can't find any records of why or what treatment was used…did this have _anything_ to do with your comet powers?" There was a silence, and Andrea looked up to see Shego looking anywhere but her.

"Shego?"

"It wasn't related to my head…" Shego quietly said.

"Butit was comet related."

"It wa… I have to go." She said and got up abruptly, walking out of the room. Andrea walked after her, waiting until Shego had left the hospital, sitting on one of the benches in the garden.

"Well?" Shego said, without turning, "I'm crippled, not deaf." Andrea shook her head.

"You're neither…but why did you leave?"

"I don't like hospitals… well sometimes I don't."

"Most people don't, it's what they signify; Bad experience?"

"Yes." Andrea nodded.

"Well, we can just stick with the GJ files and-" Shego cut her off.

"Do you know what it's like to be a global hero at 16?"

"No…but my daughter does." Shego nodded, but didn't seem to be seeing the same thing Dr. Possible was.

"Yeah…well you and Mr. Possible kept a pretty tight leash on her… that whole Halloween grounding thing…" She laughed, "I loved the look on Kimmie's face about that." Andrea smiled.

"Well, she did lie…" Shego's face became sober.

"Well for me…" She paused, "Well, the comet basically gave me powers the ability to stay up all night…a body that most 16 year old girls would die for…"

"And you…got a little wild?" Shego laughed again.

"I had a 'you are number XX' ticket dispenser outside of my hotel room… you wouldn't _believe_ how many guys I bedded." Andrea looked shocked

"at sixteen?... That never got out."

"Of course not… dear Hego made certain of that—lots of money, hints that we might not be as fast to fly to the rescue of companies that talked to much…very exclusive resorts with very big guards…" She gave a bitter laugh, "Remember, I was the good little girl heroine." Andrea waited.

"And of course, the final Kicker…" Shego murmured, "was that my comet enhanced system considered the Pill to be a foreign contaminant…like alcohol…"

"Oh boy…" Andrea breathed, she could see where _this _was going.

"Yep… pregnant at 16 and 1/3." Shego said. "I thought about hiding it…but the baby grew fast. You know what it's like to have a bulge when you're just one month pregnant?" She paused, "To say nothing of looking like you're nearly full term when you're _four_ months into it." Andrea winced…carrying the twins had been bad enough as they got close, and only the fact that it'd be a few months had made it endurable…

"What did your family do?"

"Yelled at me… a lot." Shego put her hands in her lap, and linked them. "First time I was really scared…. Funny, I know, but there I was, sitting like a blimp and Hego was yelling at me, and all of a sudden I got terrified that he was going to beat the kid right out of me…so I took the great tactic of hiding in a corner and blubbering while he yelled at me." She paused, "You see…I'd made the _team_ look bad…how could I be the brave pure heroine when I was obviously an unwed teenage mother?" She growled, "And then Hego, hero to millions, my loving older brother ordered me to get an abortion." She snarled in memory. "No…correction… when I told him he could go to _hell_ before I'd kill my baby, _that _was the first time I was really scared…I mean really. It wasn't morning sickness that had me puking for two hours after that little discussion."

"What about the father?"

"Which one…out of a hundred candidates… Hell, I didn't even remember half their names." Shego said. "But it didn't matter—Hego sent me to a very exclusive, _very_ private hospital in Europe…and this time, the guards were there to keep me in." She shrugged, "It was easy—obviously my actions showed that I was unbalanced enough for a temporary commitment order."

"He had you…_committed?_" Andrea breathed, a sick feeling in her stomach. "He had no right—an involuntary commitment can only come if the individual is a danger to herself or others!" Shego grinned at her, the expression not reaching her eyes.

"Now, doc, see, that's why you aren't rich. I'm certain the doctors who signed those orders were _well_ compensated for their examinations. Besides, I was a minor, remember? And if Hego asked them and he was my legal guardian he probably knew what was best…being Hego and all"

"If I find their names, their asses are _mine._" Dr. Possible said, frostily.

"Maybe." Shego said, "Don't waste your time on it though. Eight years leaves a cold trail." She got up and walked over to the railing that surrounded the garden. Dr. Possible followed her. Shego put her hands on the bars, the metal cool under her fingers.

"So I stayed at that hospital for about 7 months…"

"But the pictures…"

"Mostly faked…and if you listen to the news conferences back then, I was always off in 'personal development.' " She laughed. "Yeah, learning how to go from the Good Year blimp to the Hindenburg…. Even my powers started going nuts for a while—I'd wake up in the middle of the night and find out that I'd burned through the covers…beats bed wetting I guess."

Andrea didn't listen to Shego's lighthearted tone. Her gaze fell on Shego's hands—her trembling hands. Shego noticed Andrea's gaze, and quickly let go of the railing and went back to sitting down, after she linked her fingers in her lap.

"And the kicker was…none of it mattered." She said softly. "Eight months in, I was waddling down the hallway to eat the latest disgusting craving…and I felt a pain and there was blood all over my legs."

"Why?" Andrea asked.

"The baby grew too fast…that's what the doctor said." Shego quietly answered. "I didn't remember much…just that I hurt worse than I ever had, and then when I woke up… well the baby had been stillborn." She paused, and tried to assay a grin, "And after I went and figured out a list of names for her…. Ungrateful kid." The grin slipped off her face in the instant she tried to produce it, and her attempt to keep a slight tremor out of her voice did no better. Dr. Possible looked at Shego and put a hand on her arm. The mercenary, Andrea reflected, looked much younger than she'd ever seen her look.

"What about your family?" Shego's face was a study in bitterness.

"Oh, they were _thrilled_." Shego said. She mimicked her brothers voice. "Shego, get well soon we need you to help go out and save the world again. We need you… no! the _world_ needs you." In a different tone, "Well, it was for the best…you know." Andrea looked down and noticed that Shego's hands were white, they were clenched together so tightly…one fingernail had actually dug into the skin, a drop of blood shockingly red against her white skin. Andrea took Shego's hands in her own, the younger woman not seeming to notice, lost in her memories and monologue. "Not: 'sorry about your baby, Shego…have you stopped crying yourself to sleep yet?' Of course not…the little dirty family embarrassment had the grace to die in a miscarriage, so we don't need to speak of her ever again, 'I mean what would your fans say?'" The last phrase came out in Hego's inflection. She paused, "And people wonder why I turned…'evil'."

"Because they betrayed you?"

"Because they didn't care about me." Shego said, "Like I told Kimmie, the hero business eats you up. I don't know what would have happened if we'd just been ordinary people…or hell, extraordinary people…but we were 'heroes'." She spat, "and because of that, well god, you can't be a hero if you have little weaknesses, now can you?" Suddenly, she grabbed Andrea's hand, painfully right. "You make _certain_ Kimmie understands that." Abruptly, she looked embarrassed and relinquished the hand. "I mean, er… because if she doesn't we'll be fighting again."

"Of course, Shego." Andrea said, accepting the lie.

* * *

_Middleton High:_

Bonnie had grabbed the mike in the deserted office, and (since power was up during the day), had ordered everyone to the gym…in a tone that made it clear _everyone_ _better _go to the Gym. When they got there, there were just over 60 students in the Gym, along with a few friends who were along for the ride. Bonnie strode arrogantly to the center of the room, and looked around…evidently her desire to have Kim organize had been overridden by her desire to _get_ them organized.

"We've been too disorganized, and if we don't get any better, this school is _not_ going to be ready." Bonnie said. "And if we wait until the adults get around to it…I'll be a senior citizen before my senior year ends."

"So, uh…what do we do?" Brick asked.

"Get organized." Bonnie said, "I'll handle clean up in the west wing, Kim and Ron will take twenty of you and start working on the halls—get all the trash out first, and then we can think about repair and repainting."

"I guess we've been commanded." Ron said, grinning. Kim nodded, then heard raised voices.

"Well, I'm not working in the halls…" One kid was saying to another.

"Oh yeah, Well I don't want to work with you, because why would I work with a creep and a scaredy cat!"

"What?"

"Well, you hid under your bed during the riot!"

"_That's a damn lie!"_ The one kid, a sophomore, threw a punch, as the other kid started a kick. Neither one got finished. The fist hit Ron's palm and stopped, and the foot involved in the kick somehow ended up under Ron's foot. Then Ron had both kids, his hands on their shoulders companionably…and only a few saw how his thumbs were _just_ in the right place to press on a certain nerve. When ever they started to move, they found themselves going numb.

"Hey Guys… no reason to fight, we've got lots of work to do, and I know that neither of you knew the other was "under the bed" because that would mean you were there too." A giggle from some of the girls at that comment caused the accuser to turn bright red. Ron continued, "So how about you both go with Bonnie—I'm certain she can find something for you to do." Kim grinned, and heard a voice in her ear from Monique.

"Girl…you're lucky he's yours, or you'd face some stiff competition…" Kim nodded.

"I know…"

"If we're finished?" Bonnie asked sourly. The two abashed students nodded. Bonnie then continued, "OK…we'll count off and divide up that way."

"So, why aren't you doing this?" Monique asked Kim.

"Bonnie has it working." Kim said.

"Can't you do anything?" Monique continued teasingly. Kim shook her head, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Not always." She said. "For some things, you need friends."

* * *

_Middleton Hospital_

Walking back to the MRI, Andrea watched Shego out of the corner of her eye. She was still very subdued… Maybe she should-

"So, I've made my dark confession of my life's shame. " Shego said. "Your turn."

"Oh?"

"Kimmie and Ron are at your house… when Ron isn't at his parent's house, he is with Kim…and pardon the vulgarity, I bet they're screwing each other's brains out." She paused, "So why haven't you grounded them?" Possible laughed softly.

"Because I never demand something I know won't happen." More seriously, she continued, "I'll say what I told Jonathon… those two have moved beyond the point we can tell them to stay apart. They love us, they'll learn from us…but thanks to you and what they learned in Japan…they don't _need_ us any more." She shrugged, "It would hurt both of them terribly, as well as me…but if they had to leave, today, and build a life together, I have… no fears."

"Keeping track to make certain there are no little…accidents?" Shego asked.

"Kim…and oh God, if you say I told you this, I'll call you a liar, so my daughter won't kill me…. Just got a long term implant. Six months."

"Smart." Shego shrugged, "She's not in a sling anymore—special treatment?"

"Her and Ron… well I think it might be the last effects of that 'magic'—they healed much faster than they should have…not that I'm complaining!" Andrea said.

"So you're ok with it… daddy is probably pretending nothing is happening."

"He knows…" Andrea said. "As much as he tries to avoid the thought that Kimmiecub is getting older." Shego laughed.

"What about Ron's parents? They don't spend as much time over there…are they ok with it?"

"Oh yes…" Andrea said, "But well….Kim has her own bathroom and Ron doesn't, and I think both of them are still a little…"

"Nervous about running into the parents on their way to shower together?"

"Bingo."

Then they were at the MRI room and Shego sighed.

"Well….once more into the breech…here's hoping this shows you the way to cure Shego of her little falling over and frothing problem."

* * *

Late that night, after everyone else was in bed, the twins praying that their father and Drakken would return to work…and never, ever take them out into public dressed as they had been, Andrea Possible was working in the living room. She'd promised Shego to do something, especially after the mercenary had suffered another small seizure. This one had involved loss of short term memory for several moments, and the fear on her face when she looked around the no-longer familiar street…and the humiliation when she'd come out of it, had not been pleasant sights.

Unfortunately, it looked to be a genuinely global problem—there was no single area on the MRI that indicated a damaged part of the brain, although there were areas that weren't showing up well…which meant…

"Comet powers." Dr. Possible sighed. The brain chemistry would probably be a better route—there certainly wasn't anything she could go and operate on… The computer beeped, and Dr. Possible blinked and touched a button. Wade's face appeared in the split screen.

"Oh, Hi, Dr. Possible." He said.

"Hello Wade…what's the sitch?" She said, smiling. Wade blinked at Kim's trademark phrase and then nodded.

"I tried to call Kim, but her Kimmunicator is off…and so is Ron's…are they in trouble?" Andrea couldn't keep a smile off of her face.

"Well….they both went up to the bedroom a few hours ago…and they were pretty tired." She paused, "But maybe not that tired…are you certain they just weren't in the middle of something?"

_That's mean. _She thought, _I really shouldn't make a kid turn that color._ On the other hand, Wade probably needed to be reminded that Kim and Ron's relationship…had changed a bit.

"Ummm…." Wade forged gamely ahead. "But I had a message from Baby."

"Baby? Why didn't she just call directly?"

"She's…nervous."

"Wade…what did she do?" Andrea asked. _She wasn't nervous about hijacking the combined defense systems of the planet…_

"Well…it's your fault."

"How?" Wade looked annoyed and embarrassed.

"Remember when you yelled at Baby for hacking into the hospital records?"

"Yes, and I'd do it again—those were confidential records." Now Wade looked aggrieved.

"Baby started out as a data miner program!"

"And turned into a world girdling AI, Wade—she needs a little more…moral backing." Andrea said, "and I thought she'd incorporated our discussion into her core imperatives…" Pause, "And you're trying to change the subject." Wade sighed.

"She was looking around for more information on Shego…and she found some…it wasn't…_precisely_ confidential…but Baby is worried that you might get annoyed."

"She asked you to share it with me?"

"She gave it to me to look at."

"OK…give."

"Well…. Shego's baby." Andrea winced. When she'd keyed the information about the miscarriage into the records, she'd forgotten to specifically tell Baby to keep it secret…and the AI was still very… uncertain on reading human emotions.

"Wade…you shouldn't have heard about that, and let Baby know that nobody else had better learn about that. I'm probably the first person outside of Shego's family to know about it." She thought about who he'd been trying to call, "And that goes _double_ for Kim and Ron. It's Shego's secret to tell, not ours." Wade looked abashed at her tone, and Andrea forced a smile into her face. Sometimes she forgot that for all his genius, Wade was still a kid…and one not yet aware of how devastating secrets could be.

"Now…what was the information?"

"There was no autopsy on the miscarriage." Andrea sighed.

"Not surprising Wade—it wasn't a public hospital…and I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors decided to spare Shego that, especially if the cause of death was obvious." Wade nodded.

"Yes…but Baby found something else out…she didn't hack the confidential records…but she did examine the hospital inventory."

"And?"

"There was no expenditure of a body bag…" Wade said, "And baby ran a statistical analysis on the consumables… food and such."

"Yes?"

"The hospital listed twelve newborns… but according to Baby, in comparison to other years, enough medications, supplies and food was used to account for _Thirteen_ newborn infants."

To be continued.


	4. Construction and Destruction

**Construction and Destruction

* * *

**

_Middleton High School._

"Mr. Barkin's office?" Ron asked. What had become the "central committee" (according to Felix), occupied the principal's office. Bonnie, Kim, Ron, Felix, Monique and Zita.

"Not Mr. Barkin's… Ms. Clemsen's." Bonnie said, "And she probably hasn't poked her head out from under her bed yet, so it's ours." The cheerleader looked around. "We need some place to store records, and this is the place to do it, since it has filing cabinets and a working lock." Kim looked down at the trashed and burned records.

"I hope they had backups…"

"Hey." Ron said, grinning, "if they don't they'll have to take our word for grades…" Kim raised an eyebrow.

"Honor system?"

"In an alternate timeline, somewhere, Ron Stoppable aced Math… so it's true…kinda." He said, as everyone, including Rufus gave him a look. "Well it could be!" Monique shook her head, grinning.

"I doubt it." Ron sighed. Somethings never changed, and he couldn't even prove they had, since Mr. Barkin's graded papers of their time in Japan were currently classified at MAJESTIC.

"OK…so what do we do now?" Zita asked. Half of them looked at Bonnie, half looked at Kim…and Kim was looking at Bonnie.

"Get organized, first." Bonnie said. "We don't have the passwords for the computer, and the school only has emergency lights, so we can't use it anyway-"

"I can use the chair…and we all have laptops" Felix pointed out.

"We'll use them…but I don't want to leave them lying around for anyone to use," Bonnie said, and ruthlessly used an eraser on the whiteboard behind the desk, removing half drawn plans for an opening night party. "Get those other white boards." She continued. Bonnie frowned. "Now, we need to…"

"How about a map?" Monique asked. "We could use the magnetic tape to make a map of the school… I mean in rough, and use that to make certain we're getting stuff done."

"Hmmm…" Kim said, "Color code it? Red for nothing, Green for cleaned?" Bonnie nodded, and then shook her head.

"We'll need more colors than that, Kim." The attractive cheerleader said. "Say, Red for nothing done, yellow for cleaned but not repaired or repainted, blue for repaired and green for everything done."

"Sounds like a plan." Kim said, smiling.

"Oh man…" Ron said, looking at the map of the school that was taped on the desk. He'd forgotten how many rooms there were. "This is gonna take a while."

"Oh yeah." Felix agreed.

"Well, first thing we do, Bonnie said, smacking her head in annoyance, "Is what we should have done first thing."

"What?" Monique asked, the others looking equally confused.

"Can anyone tell me if the gas is still on to the labs and the cafeteria?"

Everyone blinked.

"I'll… find out where the main valve is." Ron said. Kim moved to go with him, but Bonnie's pointed finger held her in place.

"Kim…" She grinned, "Wow, I get to give you orders…"

"Don't get carried away." Kim said, grinning back. "What do you need?"

"Dragoon some of those seniors who are looking lost…and figure out a place to put stuff outside. We can't be cleaning and fixing and painting if we have no place to put books and everything—and it'll be a pain to leave it in the hallways." Kim nodded, and then looked out.

"I know what to do." She said, and grabbed her Kimmunicator.

"Wade?"

"Yeah Kim?"

"Do we have any favors that could get us some shipping trailers?" The techno savant paused, and then nodded.

"I think so—there's a company that's handling fixing the road and they could tow some to the school…would… four do?"

"Please and thank you!" Kim said. She looked over a Bonnie.

"Four should be enough—I mean we're working in sections after all." Bonnie nodded.

"We're going to be getting a lot of hungry people… " Zita said, "I'll go and liberate some of the theater food since it's still closed."

"You won't get in trouble?"

"Nah—department of health regulations—they'll just have to throw it away." Bonnie nodded, and went on to her other item.

"OK, Felix… you know about electronics? How about electrical wiring?" The wheelchair bound youth grinned.

"You should see my project." Bonnie nodded absently, chewing her lip.

"Do you think you can figure out how much and how badly the schools electrical system is messed up? I saw scorch marks around some of the lights and I _really_ don't want to burn the place down." Felix gave her a thumbs up.

"It'll take time, but I can trace every circuit in the place."

"Thanks…now, Monique, why don't we get started making our white board map, and then when Ron gets back we'll figure out who to pick to manage some of these jobs…" As the day wore on, the activity started getting more organized, and if the school was still a mess and a mountain of work it was a mountain that looked to be climbable.

* * *

_The Hospital_

Shego was really beginning to hate the MRI, the EEG, the blood tests… in fact, she was seriously considering trying to find a saint to mug and force a miracle cure out of. Here she was, in the MRI tunnel, _again_, and _again_ her comet powers would screw up the readings. What was the point?

"The point" Dr. Possible had said, in some exasperation, "Is to see if things are _changing_ in your brain."

"They are. From annoyed to put out." Possible sighed, and frowned, looking at the read out.

"OK Shego… we're done for now."

"And?"

"And I can definitely say that it's not any common problem. It's something with your brain chemistry…when you're neurotransmitters get to a certain level… hmmm….that might be a possible route…"

"To what?"

"Understanding, moderating and hopefully eliminating your problem."

"How?" Andrea frowned.

"No idea yet—give it a little time, Shego—I know it's hard, but this isn't a broken arm—it's your brain and I don't want to risk making things worse."

"Ok…" Andrea paused. There was nobody around and she'd been avoiding this. She couldn't do that anymore.

"Shego… come over here and sit down." Shego blinked.

"Bad news?"

"What?"

"Doctors don't usually ask people to sit down to hear that they've won the lottery."

"No… not bad news…but maybe…odd news." Shego blinked and sat down next to Andrea.

"Shoot." Andrea paused. There was no good way to say this, but…

"Shego. When you had your miscarriage… did you ever actually _see_ your child?" Shego blinked and frowned.

"No, I was out…and I don't know if I wanted to…My body had just killed her, after all."

"Maybe you didn't." Andrea said quietly, and relayed Baby and Wade's findings. By the time they were finished, Andrea was glad Shego was sitting down.

"No…" Shego shook her head. "That makes no sense!"

"I know…and Baby's findings…aren't conclusive." Andrea added, "There are a number of things that could explain this."

"Like what?"

"Bad records… a desire to make certain nobody found a death certificate with Shego on the next of kin…"

"Or?"

"Or, for some reason, you may have been lied to, and the child could be alive." Involuntarily, Shego's hands flared with plasma.

"Why?" She snarled.

"I have… some ideas." Andrea said.

"And they are?"

"Going to stay mine."

"WHAT ?" Now Shego was on her feet facing Andrea and the plasma hadn't gone out. The doctor met Shego's eyes steadily.

"For exactly that reason, Shego… charging hither and yon acting like a super powered madwomen—even if you don't have a seizure, is the one thing most calculated to muddy the water."

"Oh?"

"Oh. And I won't help you if you do that."

"Oh really! I don't recall asking for your help!" Shego said hotly. Andrea looked at her unrepentantly….and Shego broke the gaze first. "Besides…what could you do?"

"I'm the doctor on record for you…and as such authorized to examine any medical records, _and_ patient-doctor confidentiality applies." Shego paused at that.

"But I need a promise from you." Andrea said.

"What?"

"we do this…" she paused, "Non-violently."

"Non-violently?"

"We may have to…bend a few laws, but no violence. Do I have your promise?"

"I…arrrrgggghhhh…." Shego groaned, "OK…I won't wring anyone's neck."

"Good." Dr. Possible said. "The first thing we do is place a call to the clinic. " That, with the aid of Baby and Wade, was easily accomplished, even given the state of the phone lines and the numerous missing telecommunications satellites.

"Dravan Convalescence home." A voice came over the speaker phone and Andrea calmly started talking.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Andrea Possible, and I'm treating a former patient of yours, Shego." The voice on the other end of the phone came back, closed and suspicious.

"And?"

"And we need a work up on her pregnancy. Ms. Shego has expressed some interest in having a child." The answer was immediate.

"Those records are confidential."

"I understand… I can send certification from Ms. Shego authorizing me to examine them."

"I am sorry, that cannot be done." Shego had had enough. She grabbed the phone and snarled into it.

"OK, clerk girl… I AM Shego, and I want those records."

"I am sorry, that is not possible." And with a click, the clerk hung up on the spluttering mercenary.

"Non-violence?" Shego growled. Andrea looked thoughtful.

"Well… that proves there's something rotten in Denmark." She said. "Any legitimate hospital with nothing to hide would never have done that—even if they were worried about me, the procedure is to demand ID, not hang up…especially not on the woman whose records you are talking about."

"So let's go to"

"Europe?" Andrea said. "No…they delivered the baby…alive or dead." She paused, "But if they acted illegally, they would _never_ keep the records, you know that. Remember, Baby went from records of inventory use." Shego, reluctantly, nodded.

"Then who?"

"Foreign adoptions have to go through the U.S. government…" She paused, "And your baby…if she was alive, would have had to re-enter the United States…"

"A lot of paperwork…" Shego muttered.

"Oh ye of little faith…" Andrea said. "Wade, Baby?"

"Yes?" Two voices came as one.

"How would you solve our little problem?" Wade grinned.

"Well we know the location of the hospital, and the time…"

"And we can assume that the child, if it exists, was not transferred by boat." Baby continued. "It will be a simple matter to search all entry records during the two months surrounding the date of birth, and collate any other information."

"Ready?" Wade said.

"Yes father." Baby replied. Shego and Andrea watched, fascinated.

"Man, Dr. D really missed a bet when he didn't hire Wade." Shego muttered.

"Kid's scary in a way."

"Well, he's on our side…" Andrea murmured, "And he's a good kid."

"Got it!" Wade said.

"So soon?"

"Yeah… I'm surprised they didn't do anything more to hide it."

"You should not be, father, previous to my existence, the information processing capability we just used did not exist." Baby said in her slightly feminine voice.

"Um…focus, guys?" Shego said.

"Oh!" Wade looked down. "There were only 7 infant adoptions during this time period.

"That could be from a lot of sources."

"True, but one of them came from the hospital just across town from yours' Shego, _and_ they had no record of any pregnancies due to deliver in that week."

"Interesting, but not conclusive." Andrea replied.

"And that infant entered the U.S. by the special dispensation of Go Team…. Or more specifically, Hego." Andrea blinked….that was…

"That bastard…." Shego's voice was soft.

"Shego, we don't know for certain…"

"Oh, _I_ do…" She hissed, eyes slitted in rage. "He wanted to keep any bad publicity to a minimum, remember? Baby? Unwed teen mom? Have to take time out for feedings and diaper changes… That bastard Hego couldn't get me to abort her, so he did the next best thing…he got rid of her… he made me think I _killed_ her." Shego sat back down, actually shaking.

"Thank you Wade." Andrea said and quickly turned the comlink off. "Baby, privacy, please."

"Yes doctor."

"Do you know…" Shego said. "Do you know what it was like to think that she had died…that my _own body_ had killed her, crushed her against my womb?" She paused, and took a shuddering breath,. "But it sure helped Hego… I party and I dance…but I maybe have sex once a month, now, when I'm _damned_ certain that my cycle makes certain I won't get pregnant…. And that pretty much ruled out the Big Marriage word."

"You were thinking of marriage?"

"Naw…nobody was ever serious…but after…" Shego paused, "It wasn't even a _chance_." Her fire went out and she briefly splayed one hand over her belly. "When I first found out I was pregnant….God I was scared and pissed… mostly at the kid, then Hego…then I was just scared. I know it sounds stupid… hell, I was _sixteen_ so yeah, it was stupid, but as the day got closer… I wanted her… I wanted to hold her and maybe try and make things better for the both of us." She shrugged, "and then I killed her…except if you're right, I _didn't _kill her, but my _loving_ family, let me think I did."

"Maybe… maybe not all of them." Andrea said. "That's why you and I need to go to Go-City…for a talk with Hego." Shego glared.

"I'll let my hands do the talking." She said.

"And maybe die, because you are not at your best…or kill Hego, go to jail and, oh yes! Cut off the best source of information…not to mention breaking your promise."

"My promise? Get real Andrea! But you're right, first I get the info , than I kill…" Shego turned from Andrea, facing the MRI unit. "I can't talk to him, Andrea, not and keep that promise… I'll try and kill him. If a tenth of this is true, I'll try and kill him if I see that self satisfied, full of himself face…after this."

"Then let me talk to him, alone." Andrea said. "He'd expect you to come in and demand to know things… but not your doctor."

"And that's going to impress him?" Shego said.

"Why Shego… you just spent the last several days talking about how image conscious Hego was… " Andrea's expression might be considered a smile—her teeth were bared, at least. "And trust me, Kimmie isn't the only one in our family who is owed favors." She called Wade.

"Wade, I need you to leave a message with Kim and Jonathon… Shego and I are going to Go City…for a little chat."

* * *

_Possible Household._

"Wow." Ron said. "That's a lot…" He continued, looking down at the dinner table, now covered in the blueprints and schematics of the school (courtesy of a favor owed Kim by the City Hall Clerk), not to mention the remains of a take out dinner. The Central Planning Committee and Politburo (According to Felix and now Monique) was in session, and the work looked…intimidating.

"We got some of the hallways cleared out…" Bonnie said, "but we need a lot more if we're going to get this done by the start of school."

"There's always outside contractors…" Monique said.

"No, nope, uh-nuh" Bonnie replied. "let them in and they take over."

"Besides," Ron said, "They're all backed up doing other stuff."

_Like fixing every other building in down town The_ thought ran through.

"Well, we need tools—we just can't use the stuff in shop—it's not enough." Bonnie paused, "At least all the kids with bike helmets are bringing those in, so we don't have to worry about people not having helmets, that's better than nothing. Now equipment, Kim?."

"That's going to be a problem." Kim said, turning red. She'd hit the limits of her favors. "I tried…and construction tools, flood lights and generators… no way. It's all being used and you can't get it for love or money." She finished, she'd tried love, Ron had tried money. Bonnie frowned, and dove under the piles of paper for her lap top, and pulled up the spread sheet she'd spent part of the day making. Kim and Ron looked at her. Bonnie and a spreadsheet… that was something they'd never expected to see…

"Without flood lights we can't work at night—or even in the afternoon until we get the internal lights back up, but that means…" She hissed in annoyance, "That we're going to have to let a bunch of other stuff go." She frowned, "We'll run out of time."

"Maybe not." Monique said, "My dad owns a junkyard."

"And?"

"And he saved money by rigging up car head lights out of the old junkers and putting them in a frame."

"Does he still have it?"

"I… I think so, I can ask." Felix grinned,

"I could get it working again, with some of the guys from shop…and…_hey_, maybe he'll let us borrow a compressor?" Ron nodded.

"That's an idea… Monique… how about if you and I go to your dad's tonight and we can see." He paused, "If he wants to get paid or have a deposit on his tools, I can give it to him." Monique grinned.

"OK…but you have to promise me one thing."

"What?"

"I saw that bike you brought back from Japan… I want a ride, Ninja-boy." Ron laughed. Meanwhile, Hirotaka had entered the room.

"It will be my honor to help." He said.

"Hi. Where's Yori?" Kim asked.

"She did not see the honor inherent in that most wonderful game your father and Dr. Drakken introduced me to." Then, Ron's father appeared in the room, looking slightly desperate.

"Dad?"

"Hi Son… Um… I'll see you in a moment!" he said vanishing upstairs. The kids were fascinated, until Hirotaka continued,

"It is unfortunate that your house only has one bathroom, Ron-san…and that Yori has locked herself in it."

"She didn't like the uniform?" Kim asked.

"I do not know. When I asked her, she threw a bowling ball at me." The girls looked at each other, looked at Hirotaka still _in _his uniform.

"Trust us. She didn't." four voices spoke as one.

* * *

At Monique's house, Ron found himself talking to her father and mother. Monique had spilled out their idea in a breathless stream that left her parents holding up their hands in a warding gesture. 

"Now, let me get this straight." Her father, a stocky man with close cropped graying hair said, "You want that old floodlight set up I made before I could afford lights, a compressor, some tools…to fix the _school?_"

"Yes sir." Ron said.

"And the city is that bad off?"

_oops_

"No…" Ron paused, "We're doing this ourselves. If we wait for the city to handle it, the school will still be closed in five years, to say nothing of two months."

"Well, I've worked with the city, and I take your point." He folded his arms. "That's a lot of stuff." Ron nodded.

"I can pay for it, sir." He looked at Ron and raised his eyebrows.

"I don't doubt you could… But you don't need to. I'd rather see the stuff used." Ron found himself under scrutiny. "I know you Ron.—you're one of Monique's best friends…"

"Dad!" He grinned at his daughter,

"Don't worry, I'm not going to pull about the baby pictures, Sprite."

_Sprite?_

"Besides…" her father said, "Weren't you the one saying that Kim had a ring on her finger?"

"Um…."

"So, when's the day?"

_That seems to be everyone's question._ Ron thought, wryly. Maybe they should put an announcement up on the website.

"Not for a while yet—not until after high school, that's for certain."

"Good…I'll spare you the homilies about having fun—I figure your parents between them have done that."

_Oh yeah._ Monique's father shrugged.

"I can get you the equipment—but a lot of it isn't in the best condition."

"If it works, we can get it up to speed." Ron said,

"You need anything else? Well, then lets go open the shop." Ron grinned at that.

"Thank you sir."

"No…thank you. Don't think that just because your not in the news right now nobody knows what you and Kim did…." A pause, "and Ron?"

"Yes sir?"

"It's nice to see you out of other peoples' shadows." Ron nodded and smiled. There really wasn't anything else to say.

* * *

Back home, Ron found Kim alone. The Tweebs were hiding (for fear of being called out again) and Mr. Possible and Drakken were off at the lab, no doubt deep in research that would change (or end) the world as they knew it. 

"Where's Shego and your mom?" Ron asked.

"She said they had to go on a flight to Go City." Kim said. "The others went home…and the Tweebs are in their room." She took his hand and started tugging him up to her room. "And… it's been a _very_ long day…" She looked at him with a lecherous smile, "So if you just want to go to sleep…"

"I…think I can wait a while on that." Ron said, grinning, following his fiancé up to her room thinking how cool but strange his life had become.

To be Continued.


	5. Meetings

Meetings

* * *

Andrea waited as they landed the VTOL. Shego had insisted on flying and Andrea didn't bother to argue—the thing was mostly autopilot, anyway. Anything that took Shego's mind off of where they were going… was a good idea. 

"Where to?" Shego said, "The Bueno Nacho or the GO Tower?"

"Bueno Nacho." Andrea said, "I haven't heard anything about the Go Team coming back."

"With Hego as a leader? Not a chance." Shego said. "I'll…wait outside."

"OK." Andrea said to her. "Shego… I know this is…"

"Like pulling teeth without a novacain shot? Yep." Shego frowned, as they landed in the parking lot, not raising a lot of surprise.

"Get that a lot around here?" Andrea asked.

"Hey, you're from the town that had giant mutated monsters running around."

"Touche" Andrea looked down the street, to where a crew was busy around a large hole in the ground. From the radiation suits, she assumed it was one of the warheads Baby had disarmed being disposed of. She took a deep breath, and got out of the VTOL. Shego took her arm.

"Here." Shego said. "It's a comlink…for the VTOL."

"Shego… do you think you should listen?"

"It's not for that—you can yell for help if you need it." Andrea blinked.

"Do you think I may have to?"

"Before this last week…nah." Shego paused, "But after what I know now…I don't know." Andrea paused…and took the comlink.

* * *

Inside the store, people were going too and fro, buying meals. Evidently this Bueno Nacho had no trouble keeping stocked up, Andrea thought sourly. 

"Andrea Possible! Welcome!" Right, there was Hego.

"Hego, I need to talk to you…alone." He frowned. "Well, Dr. Possible… I'm needed here…is it about my sister? I heard that she had decided to renounce evil…has she decided to join us again? We can forgive her-"

_Oh, **enough** of this shit._ Andrea thought.

"Yes it has to do with Shego…more specifically, Shego's _baby_."

"Baby? Oh, that sad event…yes, very sad it was, but with her lifestyle, it was to be expected-"

"I know about the adoption, I know about the hospital, and we can have this conversation in public, or in private—your choice. But we _are_ having it." Andrea said. Hego looked around at the people eating and then frowned.

"My office, then…it is secure from _all_ forms of eves dropping." Andrea folded her arms and walked in after him. The door closed behind her and Hego gestured to a chair in front of his desk.

"No thank you. I would prefer to stand." Andrea said. She felt no need to be polite, or disguise her dislike.

"Very well…. " Hego said, "Now… Please explain to me about the child."

"Shego became pregnant about eight years ago." Andrea said, "I have conclusive evidence that the child did not die, and you know where she was placed with. I want to know where. Now."

"But why-" He paused, "This is about Shego, isn't it."

"I'm here as her doctor and her friend. Yes."

"Dr. Possible, you of all people cannot be serious—this decision was done to aid the child and Shego could only be a bad influence on her-"

"Shut Up." Andrea said coldly. Hego did…evidently he wasn't used to being told to shut up. "You had neither the moral, nor for that matter, the legal right to remove her child from her…minor or not, that takes a court order, and no such case is listed." She continued, "And beyond that, do you know that Shego has spent the last eight years believing she killed her own baby? Believing that were she ever to become pregnant again, the same thing would happen?" Hego looked nervous.

"Well, it was for the best-"

"It was? Tell that to Shego. I don't know what she would have done if she'd kept the baby, but it was her right… Explain to her why you took her right to choose—to have a future, or a husband."

"Shego, married?" Hego raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, with a baby to care for she may not have ever become a mercenary, or a lot of things…things you took from her."

"Yes well, Dr. Possible, the team had to come first."

"Over your own sister? Your own _niece?_" She paused, "What's her name and how many times have you visited her."

"Ah…"

"_none?_" Andrea said.

"Well, she exhibited no signs of comet power…and so…"

"So you weren't interested." Andrea said, eyes slitting . "Why am I not surprised?"

"See here… I did it from the best motives."

"I hear that a lot, as well." The doctor said, "Sometimes they mean it, sometimes they just want to say it…and in the worst cases, they really, really believe that their desires _are_ the best motives." She shook her head. "In any case, that's not important. Name and Address. Now."

"Now Dr. Possible…I really think that isn't the best thing to do, turning an international super villain lose on a small child. If you'll just think about it, I'm sure you'll-"

"Hego. There are two ways we can do this. You can tell me. Or, I'll have Kim's friend Wade put this story on the internet…and I guarantee you that there will be lots of interest, because the next stop for Shego and I will be the local FBI office, to report a case of kidnapping—for which there is _no_ statute of limitations. Even if they don't go through with it, by the time I'm finished, you'll be able to count the number of people who still trust GO-Team on one hand." Suddenly, Hego was standing directly in front of her, and Andrea had to stomp on the urge to back up.

"You can't do that!" He said, angrily. "Do you know what it would do to the world… to the team? I'm just getting the others to agree and if they foun-" His mouth closed with a snap.

"Oh…they don't know." Andrea purred. "So public opinion might not be the only thing you have to worry about. Do they all know they have a niece?"

"Ah, um… I worried that Mego might have made an issue of it, and the twins didn't need to know."

"Oh. The name, and the address." Andrea said, implacably. Hego wilted and wrote it down. She looked at it, nodded, and came close to the superhero.

"Hego…that power of yours… it only protects you when it's glowing, right?"

"Right….why?" Andrea's answer was bringing her knee up, _hard_. Hego turned the color of old milk and bent over.

"That's why." She said, turning and walking out. She paused. "By the way. Shego didn't leave because she turned evil…that came later. You lost her the moment you abused her trust. She worshipped and adored you and she would have raised your niece to love you. If you're lucky, maybe someday she'll let you beg her forgiveness….but don't hold your breath." With that, she closed the door behind her and walked out.

Shego was by the VTOL, looking nervous. When Andrea walked up, it was all Shego could do to avoid jumping out and hitting her with questions.

"Yes, I have the address." She said, "It's in Upstate New York.

* * *

_Upstate New York_

They landed the VTOL at the airport. Andrea had considered going back home, but Shego was adamant that they continue…and only the fact that they'd arrived well past ten kept her from marching out and finding the house. That and another _petit mal_ seizure. The town didn't look to have been badly hit by the disturbance, so Shego and Andrea found a room at a local hotel. Andrea had long since gotten into the habit of taking a change of clothes with her, incase surgery called, and Shego of course traveled with just about everything she needed.

"How are we going to meet them?" Shego asked, from her bed. Andrea sighed.

"Go up and say hi—what were you considering, a commando raid?"

"I don't know…" Shego said, rolling over and looking at Andrea in the other bed. "I'm not used to, well…asking." She paused, "What if they're bad parents? What do I do then…or what if they're good parents, until they find out about me and then they go-"

"Shego."

"What?"

"You're talking yourself into a frenzy. Stop it." Shego nodded… but two hours later was still mumbling, thinking up scenarios and what she could do.

"Shego!"

"Huh?"

"Go to sleep before I come over there with a club and _make_ you go to sleep. This is your doctor talking."

"Threatening to _hit _me?"

"Not at all I'm a brain surgeon. I'll just disconnect the parts of your brain that you don't need tonight, like speech and movement until the morning . It won't help if you're stumbling around like a Zombie tomorrow."

* * *

_Middleton High._

The school was buzzing. Other kids had shown up to work—and many of them were _actually_ there to work. The others, Bonnie had tossed out. She had enough to do without worrying about someone there to just graffiti up a room. _Kim_ was the one for second chances. Bonnie had just frowned at her. You wanted to show up for work, you were here to work. You got one, count it, one chance. After that, go have fun with your summer vacation.

On the other hand, work was not a problem with Kim or any of the rest of the inner circle, or the slightly not so inner circle of foremen Bonnie had dragooned to keep watch on the rest of the workers. Kim hadn't been able to get construction tools, but she had managed to lay hands on enough construction site walkie talkies so that they didn't have to keep running back and forth or talk on celphones, where they had to call the individual number.

"No, no, NO!" Bonnie was saying, of course, even with all that, she couldn't stay in the office all the time…which meant she was on the other side of the school. A rolled up map was opened up on the floor and she looked at it. The cheerleader was dressed in coveralls… with a yellow work helmet that Kim's dad had provided. Bonnie had taken masking tape and obliterated the original title on the helmet and replaced it with a more accurate one: BOSS.

"If you start painting that room, you'll just have to stop, because Felix hasn't been there to check the lights and if he has to do anything, then we'll have to wait until the paint dries, do it, and probably repaint. Stick to the schedule!" She paused, "OK, if you're finished, than go join Justine in the library." She ran a distracted hand through her disordered hair poking out from under the helmet. "I could tell you that all the books were dumped and she and the others are trying to get them back up on the shelves. I could even tell you that we need strong backs to get the shelves back up off the floor. But I think I'll tell you it's because _Bonnie_ tells you to go do it, understand?"

"And there was darkness upon the world…and then, Bonnie said: "Let there Be light!"" Bonnie blinked and looked over at Felix.

"Oh, hi Felix." She said. "How is it going?" Felix had a similar map to Bonnie, this one covering electrical conduits.

"Pretty good. I'd say that except for busted lights, there aren't _any_ major electrical problems in the main building."

"Good."

"Now for the out buildings." Felix said, and his face looked more somber, as he indicated a cluster of outbuildings. "These….I can't do anything about. They're _trashed_ Bonnie." Bonnie nodded.

"And they're prefabs…."

"Right, which means they really aren't designed to be repaired at all. Best we can do is take out all the salvageable stuff and store it."

"What about these?" A delicate finger pointed to another cluster of buildings.

"Better—some water damage from the sprinklers when someone threw a Molotov cocktail inside…but nothing unfixable… except for the carpets."

"Kim's got that covered. A carpet company owed her a favor."

"For what?"

"Something about Duff Killigan and astroturf." Bonnie said, "I didn't listen—it made my head hurt."

"The astroturf?"

"That someone would really name their kid 'Duff'" Bonnie said primly.

Unfortunately, Bonnie found that time was relative. Every time she looked at the clock, _more_ time had passed then she'd expected. That was bad. They only had so much time… And of course there were problems. Two people wanted the same tool, or decided they wanted to work over there, not here where the map and work schedule said they should be. Ron and Kim were handling that end of it—they had the personal mojo so that people didn't try and go over their heads to Bonnie…much.

Not only that, but they'd finally beaten the food problem. Yori's mom had been a baker and Yori had taken over the cafeteria, after they'd gone over it (Using Kim's Kimmunicator and her techno-nerd Wade's computer skills) and verified that there were no gas leaks. Now, Yori was keeping the place full of baked bread and other food, as well as the food and snacks Zita had liberated from the theater…probably the best food the place had seen since Ron had taken over before falling afoul of the board of health.

All of which meant they were only a little behind schedule…and Bonnie couldn't remember being so happy and so tired at the same time. She shrugged. Maybe it was because she wasn't in competition with a moving target any more. Just a project, where she knew what she had to do, and how to go about doing it.

Bonnie stretched and kept working. The sun came down, but now that they had Monique's dad's floodlights, that wasn't a problem—they just worked on one part of the school…in this case the library. Floodlights or no, Bonnie didn't want to risk people stumbling over themselves at night, and they had a _lot_ of work to do here, sorting and re-shelving books. It was nine before Bonnie decided to call it quits for the day and chase everyone else out. Kim and Ron left, in each other's arms (big surprise there), Brick was waiting for her on his bike, and all Bonnie had to do was go lock up the office and she was out of here…which was good because she'd told everyone else to come back at 6:00 AM.

Bonnie walked into the office, and looked at the white boards, the status sheets, the blueprints…the chow mein that someone had left on the desk. She frowned and swept _that_ into a plastic bag. She was _not_ going to have the office smelling like that. She'd dump it off-

It was then that she noticed the large individual, back turned to her, muttering under his breath as he looked at the main school map, with its color coded sections.

"May I help you?" She said, acidly. _I tell them they have to check in and out, and not come back in after they check out. There was still a ridiculous __10 O'clock__ curfew in effect. You are so-_.

"Miss Rockwaller. I'm pleased to see you've recovered." Steve Barkin said as he turned to face her.

* * *

_Upstate New York_

"Eat." Ms. Possible told Shego for the fourth time. She'd wanted to make the journey when she woke up….at about 5:30 AM. Andrea had refused, and made her wait until 9, whereupon they went and got breakfast.

"But what if they've gone to work-" Shego said.

"Then we wait until they come back." Andrea replied. "Do you really want to ambush them with this on the way out the door?" She looked at the younger women. " 'Oh hi! Hey, in the five minutes before you have to catch the bus, I'm the real mother of your kid. Let's bond.'" Shego wilted.

"Ok…" She said.

"Good. Now eat so you don't pass out." Andrea continued.

"But if I-"

"I have some stomach medicine in my bag and your comet power won't neutralize that, so eat."

"I wish I knew the names of her parents." Shego said.

"Hego didn't remember off hand." Andrea replied, "So we go with what we have. Her name, Cally Lincoln, and her address."

"I'm surprised he couldn't remember anything else."

"He was occupied." Andrea said.

Finally, the two women walked down the street to the house. It was only a few blocks away from the hotel, one reason Andrea had chosen the hotel. The day was bright and sunny, and absent a very few boarded up windows, the town seemed to have suffered no ill effects from the global spate of madness. When Shego brought it up, Andrea shrugged.

"Lot's of work being done on that, Shego—Middleton was pretty bad, but it was close to the epicenter….and Monkey Fist seemed to spend the most of his power trying to go after people in power...or soldiers. He wanted to bring it all down." Shego unconsciously rubbed her wrists.

"Damned Crazy idiot." She said. Andrea nodded.

"I think the first modifier is certainly true." She paused, "Hopefully Kim and Ron won't ever face anything like that again."

"Hopefully _none_ of us will." Shego said in heartfelt agreement. They passed a playground, and Andrea suddenly noticed that Shego had stopped dead.

_Oh crap…another seizure?_ She looked and Shego was staring at the kids playing. It was a neighborhood park, and evidently the kids had taken advantage of no school to get some playing in.

"Shego?"

Shego wasn't paying any attention, looking at a kid in the playground…the right age, black hair in a ponytail and a pair of lambent green eyes. It was her. It _was her! _Andrea followed her gaze.

"Um, Shego…this may not be the best idea…" Andrea said, but she was also certain. The way the child moved, dancing between her friends in a game of dodgeball…it was… Shegoish. Shego had already entered the playground.

The kids were playing when they felt the presence, and looked behind them, at the red headed lady and the younger black haired woman in a green and black dress.

"Is your name Cally?" Shego asked.

"Uh-huh…but I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Oh, uh…that's, um… good." Shego said. Cally looked at Shego for a long moment, then with an almost audible "click" she blinked.

"You're….Sh-sh." Shego's spirits soared.

_She knows me, she knows ME!_

"Yes, I'm-" A shrill scream cut her off.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" Cally shouted, "She's here to kidnap us, or or…mutate us!" The kids exploded in every direction away from the stunned woman. Shego, her hands out, palms up, took a step towards Cally.

"No, I'm-" Cally grabbed the first thing that came to hand and threw the ball at Shego. Shego reflexively avoided it…redoubling Cally's panic. Cally actually tripped over a water sprinkler fixture and fell back, frantically scrambling back away from Shego.

"Wait- I'm not-" Shego started after the child, which provoked a scream of panic as Cally managed to get back onto her feet and took off like a bat out of hell. Shego's hands reached out and fluttered helplessly. She could grab the child, but the fear in her eyes paralyzed Shego. It was like the kid saw some terrifying monster come to take her away.

"Help! Help!" Cally kept screaming, as Shego stopped in shock, hands falling to her side. When Andrea got there, the child was vanishing down the street, and the deadly martial artist was wringing her hands together.

"She…she may have just heard news reports about you, Shego. Hego said she didn't know who her mother was, so it…it isn't personal." Shego said nothing and turned and walked out of the park. Fast.

Andrea caught up to Shego as the younger woman turned the corner, out of the sight of the park. Shego was talking to nobody as Andrea walked besides her.

"It's not a big deal." Shego said in a high, fast, unnatural tone, "I mean, it's good in my business for people to be terrified of me. e-ev" Her pace started to flag. Andrea came up to her, in time to see the tears streaking down Shego's face…and the agony in it,

"E-ven when it's my ow-own baby…" Shego said, and like someone had cut the strings holding her up started to fall to her knees in the middle of the sidewalk, shaking as she tried to hold in the sobs.

"Oh G-g-god…" Shego moaned in agony. "I want to die…" Shego didn't say anything else, just sobbed with the choking sound of someone desperately trying not to cry. Andrea knelt down beside her, wrapping her arms around the woman, rocking her.

"It's…" The words died in her throat. It wasn't alright. It might never be alright. _Hurt her? Monkey fist, what you did doesn't even compare. _"I'm here with you Shego…" Andrea continued to hold the younger woman, curled up and sobbing in her arms.

To be continued.


	6. Melting Down

Melting Down

* * *

There were some experiences Andrea would love to repeat. Getting a hysterical woman back to the hotel wasn't one of them. Getting a hysterical woman back to the hotel wondering when a cop might drive up after being called by a parent _especially_ wasn't one of them.

And Shego was hysterical. Make no mistake about that, Andrea thought. Half the time, Andrea was supporting her, and given that Shego weighed nearly as much as she did, that was no joke…the other half of the time, Shego let herself be led back to the hotel.

_Everybody has their limit._ Andrea thought, _In the last month Shego's been nearly tortured to death, found out that she now has seizures that may end her life as she knows it—or at least what she did in her life, then found out that the baby she thought she killed was alive, that Hego lied to her about it, that the kid is with new parents, and oh! The kid thinks she's the right hand of Satan. She hasn't just hit the limit, she's blown right past it on the way to a nervous breakdown._

She finally got back to the hotel room and let go of Shego, who promptly slid down the wall, fetching up in a pathetic huddle by the door. Andrea unlocked the door and pulled the unresisting younger woman in, noticing that Shego was hyperventilating as she did.

"Shego. Shego!" Andrea said. Shego shook her head and moaned. Andrea sighed and got a paper bag that she kept in her luggage (never knowing when you might need it to store something).

"Here, breathe into here." Shego shook her head. "Shego, I can't give you anything because of your metabolism, but if you don't slow up, you are going to have a seizure, a bad one. Breath into the bag and the increased CO2 will slow you down. Now do it." Shego finally followed her orders, and her breathing gradually slowed down, as her shoulders shook.

"Oh, _God…"_ Shego moaned. "She was terrified of me…" Andrea didn't say anything. Shego was having, in her opinion, a nervous breakdown, and the best way to deal with that was to let her talk it out.

"Why? Why… why did Hego do that? Would I have been so bad?" Shego said, "I loved her. I sang to her at night when I felt her kick…" Tear filled eyes confronted Andrea. "Hego didn't have any right to do that, she was my baby!" Shego was screaming now, before sitting down on a bed , and rocking back and forth. "I loved Hego, he was my big brother, how could he do that to me?" She moaned, then, off on another tangent, "But maybe he's right…" Shego said, and suddenly fire filled her hands. Andrea was briefly thankful that a surgeon's salary would let her pay for a destroyed hotel room, but Shego did nothing else, looking at her glowing hands like she'd never seen them before.

"Shego?" Andrea said softly.

"Maybe he's right?" Shego said, sniffling. "I just fight, I take…I even kill, all I can do is destroy and everything I touch turns to shit." She bit her lip, so hard she drew blood, then continued, "What the Hell was I thinking? I can't be a mother… I'm a criminal…I'm a piece of crap! do you know how many times I beat up on Kim? She's your Baby but that's what I do! I hurt other people's babies." Then she was up and pacing.

"I mean, I wasn't there for her first Christmas, or birthday, or anything else, I don't even know what to _do_ for a baby's first Christmas,." still pacing. "Maybe Hego was right? She probably has a better life." Shego sat down, missing the chair and hitting the floor, hard. She didn't try and get up. "I mean, I, I never even held her…they probably took her out of the hospital when I was asleep so I never held her, or looked at her."

"But they didn't give me a chance to hold her, they just took her away!" Now Shego was up again, walking back and forth. "Was I always so bad? Did Hego know it? Was that why he had someone else take her?"

It went on like that, around and around, Shego repeating herself, ranging from almost calm with Shego continually apologizing to Andrea for ever hurting Kim, to completely hysterical, telling Dr. Possible what a stupid idiot she'd been for helping Shego in the first place. Dr. Possible realized that while her budget wouldn't have to cover a room, it _would _have to pay for a few chairs and a perfectly good TV. As the day wore on, Andrea realized that going anywhere tonight was out of the question. Shego was in no condition to travel, or talk, let alone risk another disastrous confrontation like had earlier happened. She was also, Andrea judged, exhausted, mentally and emotionally, if not physically.

Finally, after Andrea had had food delivered to their room and _forced_ Shego to eat it, Shego's body forced her to rest. Andrea waited until she was certain that Shego was asleep, the Mercenary lying curled up on the bed with a Kleenex clutched in one hand. Andrea shook her head. The kid obviously kept up on things, and Shego was, of course, a villain—and unlike lots of others, she wasn't overly funny, although Dr. Possible knew that at least among the male set, her figure also had something to do with her popularity. Probably not in this case… So what to do?

Abruptly, she smiled. To deal with unpopularity…find someone more popular to take your side. Moving to the other side of the room she pulled out her celphone and hit speed dial.

* * *

_Middleton High_

_"Mr. Barkin?_" Bonnie asked in shock. The last time she'd seen the principal, at least at length, it had been that disastrous day when Kim had tried to kill her. He'd resigned the same week and been gone before Bonnie had gotten out of the hospital. She hadn't spoken to him at the hospital when everything fell apart, and hadn't seen him in the weeks since.

"Ms. Rockwaller I-" Barkin broke off as Bonnie hugged him fiercely around the waist.

"Don't you _ever_ go off like that without telling anyone!" The cheerleader said angrily, her scolding tone ruined by the very slight catch in it. "Everyone at school missed you."

"Indeed… and my rules?" Barkin said, his greater age and experience allowing him to keep _his_ catch out of his voice.

"Oh yes. At least they stayed the same." Bonnie said, as she disengaged. "We've had five administrators and every one turned everything upside down." A very Bonnyish look, "And even before everyone went nuts the school _was_ nuts. Do you realize the last one decided to try and communicate with 'kindness'? She was handing out smiley faces like we were ten…and got rid of detention!" Barkin winced at that.

"Things were…chaotic?"

"Things were stupid!" Bonnie said. Barkin nodded.

"Now…about my office," He continued, "I see you've done some work in here… is anyone else helping with the school?" Bonnie frowned,

"Beyond the students? Not really—every construction company can get more money for private work or working for the city." The teen said. "That doesn't bother me, but the fact we have a hard time getting materials _does_ bother me." A pause, "We're going to be pushing it to get the school open on time as it is, without any bottlenecks interfering." Barkin gave a smile.

_Kids?__ No, not any more._ He thought, not in the bad sense of some weary old before her time soldier, which was what he'd feared, but in the sense of someone who saw a problem and fixed it, lead, follow, or get out of the way. In addition, someone who was fairly proprietary towards her domain—he had no doubt that Bonnie not only hadn't asked, but didn't _want_ other people interfering in her work, thank you very much.

"And Ms. Possible?" he asked.

"Oh, Kim's been a great help." Bonnie said absently, her earlier statement still distracting her as she looked at the work sheet. "She's been able to get stuff we couldn't get, and the other's respect her, so she and Ron keep everyone on track. Couldn't do it without them… even if they are mooning away into each other's eyes at lunch."

"Ah. Well, you'll be happy to know that I've been reinstated as your principal." Barkin said. Bonnie looked up.

"That's _great!_" She said, then looked around at the office. "Ah…" Barkin tilted his head and said something from his Marine past.

"Permission to come aboard, Ma'am?"

"Ah…okay?" Barkin nodded.

"In order to avoid any problems with the chain of command Rockwaller, I can ready myself for school at home—I don't think either one of us would enjoy people looking at the other one when we tell them what to do—as you know the chain of command must be maintained." He paused, "In fact, officially, I wasn't here—but of course, if you run into problems from city hall that require my signature, you know where to find me." He gestured toward the door. "Well, shall we?" Bonnie nodded, and Barkin noted with approval how she looked around one last time.

Yes, this years senior class was definitely going to be a horse of a different color, Barkin reflected.

* * *

_Kim's house_

Kim and Ron were curled up together enjoying the showing of the 1950's classic, _It__ came from beneath the TV (and it wants your wife!)_ Well, ok, it was a classic according to _Ron_.

"Ron, what is _that?_"

"It's 'X' the unstoppable monster from beyond space and time."

"It looks like an iguana with sprinkles on it."

"Well, it's that too."

"And that?"

"That's the alien invasion fleet space ship.

"And _That?_"

"That's…. a coke bottle someone left on the set."

"Oh, I thought it looked too realistic." Kim said giggling. The acting was… not bad, but all those actors trying to be so completely _serious_ had her bursting into laughter every other scene. By the time they got to the president looking out his window at a (painted on a screen) alien ship in front of the White House saying: "this could be the end of life as we know it!" Kim was helplessly laughing in Ron's arms.

"Oh, this is so terrible!"

"Why else would we watch it?" Ron asked. "Popcorn?"

"Why thank you Mr. Stoppable." Kim said. Abruptly, the Kimmunicator rang. Ron looked at Kim and got an evil grin.

"If it's Wade, muss your hair up and we'll both run up to the bed and pull the covers up and look really, _really_ annoyed."

"Ron….what if it's Kyoko?"

"Then… Argh, she's too young for the joke."

"What Joke?"

"Well, they've already made a baby…" Ron ducked as Kim threw one of the couches throw pillows at him.

"You're evil."

"I took classes at a ninja school, what can I say?" Kim finally found the Kimmunicator, and pulled up the number.

"It isn't Wade… It's mom." Kim said.

"Hi Mom…what's up?"

"Kim, I need you to come out to where I am…now." Her mother said, even as a text message giving hotel info scrolled across the screen.

"Are you okay?" Kim said, concerned. She wasn't worried about Shego, but Shego had enemies…

"Oh! Yes, I'm fine—nothing is physically wrong, but it _is _urgent. I need you to get out here as soon as possible."

"OK Mom." Kim said, already on her way to the bedroom to change. "I'll be there." When she transferred the call to Wade, asking for a favor, Ron shrugged.

"We should remember to bring our VTOL over from Japan."

"Yeah." Kim said, as Wade came up on the screen.

"Hey, Wade… we need a ride."

* * *

_Upstate New York._

Andrea slowly woke up. She'd been asleep for only a few hours after drifting off to sleep. She rolled over, hoping that Kim would be here soon. Then she saw it.

Shego was gone.

Oh. Crap.

To be continued.


	7. Meeting the Folks

Meeting the Folks.

* * *

_Upstate New York._

Kim and Ron got out of the car that Ron had rented. Wade had gotten them a ride on an airforce high speed transport, and sandwiched between MRE's and disaster relief packs, they'd made the trip quickly—parachuting out of the plane to save more time. Ron had pointed out that there were benefits to wealth—as the rental car attested—Kim sighed as the automatic massage unit took over.

"We should buy one like this…" Kim said. Ron grinned,

"Well, we could—between you and me, this would be pretty small potatoes…"

"Small potatoes for you…" Kim replied grinning, "I'm not the King of the Naco's."

"True…but we probably should get a car." Ron said seriously, "the Ninja isn't always a good ride…like in the winter."

All comedy ceased when they swung by the hotel, to see Kim's mother exploding from the doorway, looking around frantically, her hair mussed.

"Thank God!" Andrea said.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"No time to explain," her mother said, swinging up into the car.

"Here, go to this address." Andrea continued, "we have to find Shego."

"She'll be here?"

"Oh yes." Ron looked concerned, and immediately swung out of the parking lot.

_Shego, what's wrong?_

When Kim, Ron and Andrea got to the house, Andrea's brain had finished gibbering out the worst that could have happened and had started again on "A." on the list. But the house was there in the morning light, no cops, no fire, no… nothing. And then, Andrea caught a glimpse of green and black and turned to see Shego standing across the street. Shego made a motion to walk across, then stopped and turned around, as if to walk back to the hotel, then turned to look at the house, wringing her hands.

_OK…doctor, score one for Shego—she hasn't done anything. _Andrea's greatest fear hadn't been violence… not on Shego's part at least, but fear _for_ Shego, especially if she had been violently rebuffed. She didn't _think_ suicide was a danger, but still…

"Kim, you and I have to go to the house… Ron… could you keep Shego company?"

"Sure…" Ron said, pulling over. Andrea got out and walked with Kim.

"Kim." Andrea said,

"Yeah Mom?"

"There's a…young girl in the house, If her parents allow it, I need you to talk to her…about Shego."

"Um…why?"

"Because I _think_ I saw a Kim Possible action figure tied to her belt."

"When did-"

"When she was running away from Shego…there's been a terrible misunderstanding, and I hope you can convince her that…"

"Yeah?"

"Shego isn't evil." Kim blinked at that.

"Of course she isn't!" Kim said hotly.

"And if you only had your website and maybe the news to go off of?"

"Ouch."

"Right." Andrea said. Then, "Kim… I can't tell you why…it's not my story to tell. But this is _important_… as important as what Shego did for you and Ron." Kim nodded soberly.

"OK, Mom… no questions…and Shego _isn't_ evil." She paused, "But-"

"I can't tell you why, Kimmie."

"OK." _But it might help me figure out what to say in here…

* * *

_

Ron had gotten out of the car and walked up to Shego…and Shego didn't notice him…that was bad. Very bad. Normally sneaking up on Shego was about as easy as tap dancing on thin ice. This time, the raven haired woman didn't even turn until he was right on top of her.

"Ron?" Shego said in a thready voice quite unlike her normal confident sound. Ron blinked, looking at her as she turned to face him.

_Shego had been crying._ Ron realized, he never thought he'd _See_ Shego cry—according to Kim's mom she hadn't even cried, not in the hysterical sense, when she'd been brought in after Monkey Fist's beating and torture. Given that, her red eyes and the way her body trembled was even more shocking. Ron didn't bother to say anything, just took Shego in a gentle hug.

"Hey Shego, we're here. " He said quietly. Shego didn't resist, holding onto Ron and laying her head on his shoulder. He could feel the trembling in her body, a combination of exhaustion and fear.

_What the hell is happening here?

* * *

_

Kim and Andrea walked up to the front door of the house, which they both saw was an annex to a small church.

"Is this the right address Mom?" Kim asked.

"Yes…" Andrea replied. _What if she moved? No, that was Shego's child here. Maybe the church was remodeled into the house. _

Andrea touched the bell, and after a few moments, a young black man in his early twenties answered the door, looking at the two. Close cropped black hair and a stocky build framed a pair of blue eyes and an open friendly face. He was in the uniform of the local police, but without his equipment belt, although Kim saw the impression of a bullet proof vest under his shirt.

"May I help you-you're Kim Possible?" He said in shock.

"You recognize me?" Kim said.

"With all the times Cally has made me watch shows about you…yeah." He said. From his look Kim got the feeling that not all of those watchings had been voluntary.

"She's going to be so freaked out!" he said, "Especially after she thought she saw Shego-hey… is that why you're here?" Andrea intervened.

"Well… ah,"

"Oh! Sorry." He said, "I'm James." He grinned. "I'm just in for a quick break—so much craziness happened that we're still busy, even if crime is way, way down right now." He sighed, "Won't last."

"Oh?" Kim said, surprised. He gave another one of those brilliant smiles.

"You get a forest fire, a burning house…people come out and rise to the occasion…but people can't keep that tempo going." He laughed at himself, "Still, dad's right, I shouldn't borrow trouble, _or_ keep guests on the front porch. Come in, Come in." Kim nodded and let her mother in first. Andrea smiled.

"I'm Doctor Andrea Possible…Kim's mother." James nodded.

"Hello Ma'am." He said. Andrea paused, "Are… Cally's parents home?"

"Yes Ma'am—Mom, Dad! We have guests!" James called as he led them down a short hallway to the living room. Kim looked at the pictures on the wall. Nice family, kind of remaindered her of her own—at least in the photo wall thing. Then they were into a nicely (but not richly) appointed living room, with a man and woman rising to greet them. The man was an older version of James, rising with the aid of a cane, while the woman was a petite Asian, her night black hair done up in a tight bun, somewhat younger.

"Dr. Possible, Kim, these are my parents, Michael and Izumi Lincoln" James said formally. The two blinked, than Michael gave a soft laugh.

"Well, you don't look twenty feet tall…but to hear Cally say it, that's your height."

"Um…" Kim said, "She…keeps track of me?"

"If you were a criminal and she was an FBI agent, you'd have no hope of escaping." Kim's lips twitched at that. "Can we get you two something—coke, water, coffee?" Andrea nodded, "Coffee for me, please…Kim?"

"Um…water if that's okay." Kim said.

"Certainly." After Michael and Izumi had settled them all down in the living room, he continued. "Cally's upstairs…and I think that you're not only here for a chat and a drink so before we get bombarded…" He paused meaningfully, "I figured you might want to have a chance to talk quietly." Kim didn't notice the gaze Andrea shot her way, but Izumi did, and she picked up on it.

"Michael… if Cally finds out that Kim Possible is down here, and she is up there, we will never, _ever_ get any peace." She told her husband. He nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right about that." Kim smiled.

"How about if I go up and talk to her."

"That'd probably keep us alive in the future," Michael said, "If you wouldn't mind?"

"No big." Kim said. _That was easy._ As she and Izumi walked up the stairs, Michael and James looked over at Andrea.

"Now…" Michael said, "What's so important that your daughter can't hear about it."

"It's ah… about Shego." Andrea quietly said.

"Shego? _Here?_" Michael said. "I thought that Cally had scared ten years out of some woman just looking for directions to the church." Andrea shook her head.

"No. It was Shego… I'm her doctor and well-"

"Given that the last time I heard she was in the business of trying to take your daughter down, that's kinda odd, if you don't mind me saying so." James commented.

"Well….er…. things are kind of changing." Andrea replied. "Shego helped." _Oh to hell with it. _

"I'll answer all your questions but in brief, eight months ago Kim was assaulted and had a…well, breakdown. I didn't see it happening, my husband didn't see it—only Ron, Mr. Barkin, her school principal.. and Shego saw it coming. If it'd been up to us, or the law, when the dust settled Kim would have been in jail or in a mental hospital for maybe a long time —_Shego_ was the one who took action to help Ron get her to where she could be healed…. during the craziness, and if you want to know what was really happening on that score I'll tell you about that as well, Shego was almost beaten and tortured to death, by confronting the man that started all the global insanity. Later while all of the craziness was in effect mobs of people kept attacking the hospital in Middleton. During this time Shego got out of intensive care and managed to help protect everyone who was inside the hospital. I owe her my life, but much more importantly, I owe her my daughters life, sanity and happiness,." She finished almost defiantly.

"And…" Michael said, "That doesn't' explain why you're all here?"

_Oh boy. _

"Shego became pregnant approximately 8 years ago." Andrea said in her professional voice, "She was told the child died in childbirth—that her own comet powers had resulted in the baby growing too fast and being stillborn." She paused, "That turned out to have been a lie. The child was adopted out the same day she was born…and only in the last few days did we find out about it."

"I see…" Michael said. Izumi had come back down the stairs, alone.

"So what…" Michael's wife said.

"Cally is that child." All three adults looked stunned at that.

"Cally? _Our Cally?"_Izumi said, her eyes wide.

"How old was Shego?" James asked.

"16." Michael nodded.

"So that's why she acted so oddly yesterday according to Cally." Michael said. "If that was Shego…well no way could Cally have just, _run _away."

"Shego wasn't trying to catch her." Andrea said. "In fact, we were coming here, but she saw Cally and recognized the resembalance…and well…" She didn't need to say anything else to the parents, and no amount of explanation would enlighten James until he had children of his own.

"Things didn't go well."

"No."

"And why didn't you come to the house?"

"Shego…wasn't really in any condition to talk." Michael nodded at that, thoughtfully.

"Is she here now?"

"Yes…across the street." Husband and wife looked at each other.

"Well, don't keep her waiting out there…"

"Oh, Good, Ron's with her." Michael paused. He'd caught the tone Andrea used. _Ron's with her… because she needs someone to be with her.

* * *

_

Kim was going over what she was going to say as she walked up the stairs behind Cally's mother.

_Nope. That won't work, how about tha-_

"Cally?" Izumi called, "There's someone here to see you."

"Who mom?" The girl asked, opening the door to her room.

"Hi Cally." Kim said. Cally looked then her eyes got HUGE.

"Kim….Possible?" She asked. Kim grinned.

"That's my name."

"OH!" She squealed. "You're here! You're here!" Kim smiled at that. Cally reminded her of a younger Joss.

"Um…Cally, how about if you let Kim in and I'll let you two alone." Izumi said, clearly wanting to go back down stairs. Cally blinked.

"oops." She said and opened the door. When Kim entered she saw posters of herself, books, a computer… but she found herself staring at Cally.

Lambent green eyes looked back up at her, and the night black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, as Cally quickly cleared a place—mostly involving moving a few books—the room was neat. That didn't matter.

Cally could have been a younger version of…_Shego._ Abruptly Kim went cold. This was Shego's daughter, she was certain of it. Even though she understood her moms reason for not telling (and in matters medical Dr. Possible could no more violate her oaths then Kim could fly by flapping her arms)…

_Thanks mom._

"Oh my gosh! Why are you here?" Cally asked. Then she paused and her eyes got even wider. Then, like all kids her age, an idea took hold. "Could you?" She asked indicating the Webcam on top of her computer. Kim nodded, smiling, and within moments a quick video of the two waving at the screen was recorded. "Everbody's going to be _sooo_ jealous." Then, back to the subject, "It _was_ Shego, wasn't it?"

_Oh boy._ Cally had referred to Shego like you might a killer robot…

"The lady you met yesterday? Yes, that was Shego."

"She's not a lady…she's a criminal." Kim had no children… that was off so far in the future that she couldn't even envision it…but even so…

_God Shego, if she is your child, no wonder you melted down._

"Well, um…that's not quite the case." Kim said. "Shego isn't a villain…not any more, not really."

"But the website!" Cally said,

"I haven't updated it in a while." Kim said, and smiled, "Things have been a little crazy." Cally nodded earnestly.

"That's for sure Daddy got all of us and a lot of the other kids and families and put us into the church while James (he's my brother) and the rest of the police went out. I mean, Daddy used to be a police officer, but he became a pastor." Kim nodded. _Family of policemen.__ Shego. Oh Boy. _

"Was it scary?"

"Kinda, but Daddy had the kids sing and the adults took care of the kids…except for Miss Slocum."

"Miss… Slocum?" Cally nodded earnestly.

"She had a can of gas and a flare and she said the world was coming to an end."

"She…did?" Kim said, fascinated.

"Yeah, but Daddy took the flare and gas away from her and made her sit down. He said that if it _was_ the end of the world, the Good Lord didn't need _her_ help." Kim smiled at the image. It also left her an opening.

"Things were crazy where I was too…but they'd gotten crazy a while earlier." She paused, "I…" Kim thought a moment. She could think about it now—it wasn't pleasant, but the fear that had dominated her wasn't even a whisper now…but on the other hand, there were things eight year olds didn't need to be told.

"Before that… well some pretty…bad things happened to me."

"To _you?_" Cally Breathed, "You can do _anything!_" Kim, sitting on the bed beside the girl, smiled.

"Not always…" Kim said, "Not without friends…and that's where I, uh, messed up." She looked around the room, "I decided I _could_ do it myself…and that hurt me, and then I hurt some other people." She paused, "and that's where Shego came in."

"She attacked you?"

"Nah." Kim said, "When I was going to hurt some other people, Shego stopped me from doing it….then she helped Ron take me to a place where I could get better."

_"Shego?_"

"Yep… without her…things wouldn't have worked out." Kim paused, "_I_ wouldn't have gotten better."

"Didn't _Ron_ do anything?" A pause, _"Does_ he ever do anything?" Kim laughed softly.

"Oh, more than I could imagine…he's the reason I'm here…" She paused, "And when all the craziness was going on?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't stop it. I couldn't. If it had been just me, we'd have lost. Ron stopped it."

"He _did?_"

"Yes." Kim quietly said. _Ron and Monkey Fist, joined by the sword, the howling energy rising up, twisting darkness from Fist and a light so pure as to be agonizing to anything mortal from Ron…or through Ron, from a place where death didn't obtain._ Kim shook her head back to the present. "Oh yeah…he did." It was then that Cally looked down at Kim's hand and her eyes got even bigger.

"Is that a?"

"Ring? Yeah." Kim said.

"You're getting married? To who?"

"Ron."

"_That _wasn't on your website!" Green eyes sparkled in joy. "That means I know something nobody else does!" Cally said happily. Then, "When are you getting married?"

"Um…not for a while—this is an engagement ring."

"Oh.… James said dad didn't marry mom for a while… they knew each other at work."

"Oh? What does your mom do?" Cally looked proud.

"She's the deputy district attorney!" Kim wondered if anyone would notice her at the window frantically waving off Shego and Ron.

* * *

Outside, Ron was no longer hugging Shego, but the older woman did have her arm tightly linked to his.

"What's taking them so long?" Shego said. Then, the door opened, and Ron could swear he felt a tremor through Shego, as if she was about to bolt right then.

At the door was a stocky man, skin burnished obsidian, next to Dr. Possible and a shorter Asian woman.

"C'mon in, everyone." He called, in a deep cheerful voice that also had a note of command to it.

"I can't." Shego said.

"You can." Ron said. "Because if you don't I'll knock you on the head and carry you in there." That got a brief betrayed look. Ron smiled. "Shego—payback time—Kim couldn't help herself alone, _I_ couldn't have helped Kim without your help. So let us help. Please." Shego gave a jerky nod, and then the two walked towards the door.

To be continued.


	8. Conversations

Authors notes: Yes, it's been a while. No, I'm not intending to stop this it's just that the part I'm in right now is taking a bit longer to do.

Parents and Children

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Shego said, "I know… I'll wait until tonight, go in, get Cally, and talk with her at a Denny's or something and come back tomorrow." 

_"_Who's Cally?_"_ Ron asked.

"My Kid…"

_OK…_Ron ignored the first dozen question's that came to mind.

"Um, Shego," Ron said as they walked across the street, "Let me guess—you met her yesterday and…"

"She got scared." A whisper.

"So you're going to sneak in at night, kidnap her, take her to a Denny's and bond over their meat lover's platter?" He paused, "You _are_ off."

"Well it's a better idea than-" Ron's look cut her off. Shego grumbled.

"OK, it is a stupid idea."

"Better." Ron said. He paused, "Besides, bonding is never done at Denny's—that's a Bueno Nacho thing."

"Eugh." Shego said, getting some of her spirit back, "So I can be arrested for attempted murder by Cholesterol?"

Shego tried to put on a nonchalant face, but failed miserably, Ron noticed. Then, they were at the door, with the older man holding it for them.

"Welcome to our house." He said.

"Hello sir," Ron said. Shego wasn't normally used to politely asking people to come into their home. She also wasn't used to having a child, or having seizures, or needing to hang on to Ron Stoppable. That being the case…

"May I come in?" Shego asked. At least she didn't sound like a five year old. Ten at least. The man nodded, and they went in…and Shego enjoyed the process of walking up the short hallway at least as much as she would have liked walking on broken glass.

It was the pictures.

Shego had always had the thought that pictures of kids were simply a way to get good blackmail material on the little rugrats while they were still young and naïve. Then, if they got out of hand when they were teenagers, you could use them to embarrass them back into line. Now that she knew about Cally, Shego found they also worked dandy as "torture the Shego" devices.

There were _lots_ of pictures. Some of them of a younger black man, in his graduation robe, still younger on a bike, then in a police uniform standing next to a younger version of the man leading them in, who was also in a police uniform—a Sergeants. Shego gave a mental groan. They were _cops._ It also helped her try and avoid looking at the other pictures.

Unsuccessfully.

There was Cally, in swaddling clothes, being held by the Asian woman who was glowing with joy.

_That couldn't have been more than a week after she was born._

Then there were other pictures. Cally in a high chair being fed—well maybe some of the food was getting in her mouth rather than on her face, Cally on a horse, at about 5, being held by the man leading them into the house, Cally on her first bike, Cally at her first Christmas All Cally' s School pictures and just like Shego's own School pictures most showed Cally growing up with a happy tooth missing smile.

Oh yes. Walking through broken glass barefoot would have been easier for Shego. Then Shego was in the living room, where another guy—their son, she guessed, stood, in his police uniform, next to a sitting Andrea.

"Hello." Shego said. The others looked at her, along with Andrea. Then the older man came up and gave a faint frown.

"Where is everyone's manners? Sit on down and I'll get you something to drink. Soda pop, coffee, water?"

_A steaming cup of 'what the hell do I do'?_

"Coffee, if you don't mind." Shego said.

"Not at all." The younger man looked at Shego then turned to his parents.

"Mom, Dad… I think I'll probably head on out—we still have a _lot_ of work to catch up on."

"You certain?" he paused,

"Yeah." The police officer gave Shego a meaningful look on his way out of the house, as his father passed into the kitchen and quickly returned with drinks for everyone.

"Names, Michael." The older man said, "This is my wife, Izumi…and that was our Son James." Shego nodded.

"He doesn't like me." Small talk had never been Shego's forte.

"Nope…not so much…not like, as, 'the woman who two minutes ago would have been worth an immediate promotion is now my kid sisters birth mother… and sitting in my dad's living room.'" Michael shrugged. "And he takes his oaths seriously, so he's going out and finding other law breakers." Izumi sighed,

"He gets it from his father."

"I…" Shego broke off. If she'd come to make peace…what if they _did_ call the cops? She couldn't fight her way out, not for many reasons.

"Don't worry." Izumi said, "Take it from a District Attorney."

_Mom's a DA? Oh God._ But Izumi was continuing.

"Things are so screwed up right now on every level, you're not even on the radar. We have crooks coming in and confessing to ten year old crimes because they met god, law abiding citizens who tried to burn the city down, and people who want to be arrested because they weren't nice to their dogs…" She sighed, "And that's only the top of the list."

"Oh." Shego said, "I…" She didn't know what to say.

"So…" Izumi continued, "Cally is your girl?"

"I um…" Shego couldn't think of what to say…she had had so many ideas, but they were all banished.

_So bond with Cally? Take her away from this obviously horrible… loving home? Invite her out to a lair or one of those apartments you keep for when people are trying to kill you? **I know!** You can invite her to see a seizure!_ Shego shook her head in annoyance.

"I…I mean, yeah."

"So what happened?" Michael asked. Shego looked at Ron, but continued. Briefly, (and to her great joy, not bursting into tears), she told them the story of her foray into motherhood, and what happened after that.

"_Hego_…" Izumi said, lips pale with fury. "Broke at least five laws I can think of off the top of my head." Michael was nodding. Then he looked at Shego and spoke, eyes worried but unflinching.

"And that means the adoption was fraudulent." Izumi looked over at her husband, and now she was all pale.

"What are you going to do?" Izumi asked. Shego looked around, and remembered her brief soaring dream of taking her child…her _child_ away from some terrible, Charles Dickens' style nightmare. In the comfy living room, they shriveled and died.

"I um…" Shego swallowed, took a drink, swallowed again, "I… I'm not sure… I just want to get to know her…if that's alright." She paused, and then, forced out her next words. "I'm not here to try and take her… if that's what you're worried about." She gave a laugh that didn't quite disguise the catch in her voice. "Hey, maybe Hego was right… I mean, I probably would have made a pretty sh- lousy mom."

"Maybe…maybe not." Michael said, "But that wasn't Hego's call to make."

"He did." Shego said.

"And he'll pay for it." Michael replied.

"He's her uncle." Shego said, unwillingly. Now her doubts were rising up around her. Maybe Hego _had_been right.

"No. He gave that up." Izumi said, and now her voice was forged iron. "If Cally one day wants to meet him, we may go out and see him, but he will _never_ walk through the door to my house."

"Are you… still active in the business?" Michael asked. _He means are you still a crook…_

"Not…no… I was hurt and I'm getting seizures…" Shego said, "It's hard to be a mercenary if you flop over and twitch a lot."

"I see." Michael said, _and that wasn't the question I asked. _Shego realized looking at him. Not being a crook because you didn't want to, and because you couldn't were two different things.

_How much do you want to know Cally?_ Shego realized. That was the question. What was she willing to give up…or would she be the old Shego…the Shego who wanted everything on her terms. They were offering her the chance… But they wouldn't be willing to let their daughter associate with an active crook.

_..Their daughter So just get up and walk out. You don't need their charity. You don't need anyone's charity. Go back and get your head fixed and find some place where you can dance with a man who's name you won't remember the next morning. You can even dump Drakken—he's out of the business, so you can be free. _

_Alone. _How the hell had this happened? How had these people, Kim, her mom, Ron, who was sitting next to her, radiating support, even these people she'd just met…how had they slipped past her armor so easily?

"I…" Shego couldn't lie…not to him. "I'm out of that business. For good." She wondered if they realized just how much of a lifetime's ambition had just died in seven words. "I may do stuff like bounty hunting…but only for people with legitimate warrants on them." _And if they won't take that, screw 'em, I'm **not** about to go get some nice job as a check out clerk._

"There's a lot of work for that." Was all Michael said. "I always wondered why Kim never bothered to cash in any of the rewards for the people she got." Shego briefly was able to conjure a nasty grin as she looked at Ron, who was blushing.

"You know…" Ron said, "I'm beginning to wonder that as well." There was a sound from upstairs as she heard Kim and Cally come down them.

Kim and Cally were walking down the stairs, but Cally had hung back when she'd heard Shego's voice.

"Don't worry, Cally… Shego's a friend." Kim said.

"But…but she tried to get me yesterday." Cally repeated.

"Nah…she just wanted to talk. Did she chase you?"

"No…" Cally said. Kim looked at Cally seriously.

"Cally… could you talk to Shego?" Kim paused, "I really… I really owe her everything. My life, Ron…my mom… She's my friend."

"Even after everything?"

"Even after everything." Kim said. Cally paused, and the seven year old looked at her heroine.

"Do you forgive her?" Cally said. "Daddy says that's the most important thing."

"Yes." Cally thought for a moment.

"OK… Can I take her up to my room?" Kim paused,

"If you're parents agree, sure." Cally nodded and bounced down the stairs, humming a little tune.

In the living room, Shego looked up at the sound of Cally…and the sound of the tune she was humming…and for a second, Shego was somewhere else.

* * *

_Shego's ankles ached and her body was a strangers. Her swollen belly looked bigger than the rest of her, and for all the guys seemed to love big chests, she wanted her old chest back, because they ached and leaked and generally made her life miserable. Her skin itched, she burst into tears…._

_And the painfully correct behavior of the staff didn't help things. She hadn't heard from any of her family. They would bring her anything…but not a phone, and not a key to go outside the beautifully landscaped grounds of the clinic. But there were places Shego had found, where she could be alone._

_One of them was in the garden, facing the setting sun, where the light bounced off old brick walls to illuminate the roses and plants, while the radiated heat kept the area pleasantly warm. Few came here. It was Shego's place. _

_She waddled on out and sat down, with some difficulty, pulling the shawl around her, luxuriating in the warmth that for once felt just right. _

_"Here you go." She said to her baby. Baby wasn't happy, and she felt a kick on the inside of her womb. Shego patted her swollen belly. _

_"Sorry." Shego said, "I know I promised to come out earlier, but remember, they wouldn't let me." Another kick. "I know. They **do** suck." It hadn't helped that her hormones had kicked in at that moment and she'd burst into tears, stamping her foot as they refused to let her out because it was chilly. _

_"But here we are, and I promised I'd sing you a song." Shego had no idea why she was having these one sided conversations…but it seemed right. Her baby was the only thing that cared for her, after all. She started humming the tune, and then broke into a soft song._

_She sat there, singing, until the sun went down and she heard people looking for her. Shego got up with difficulty and went back, hands around her belly. If she was difficult they might not let her come out at all again. So she'd be a good girl and go back to the room with the DVD and the videos and the books… and the door that locked from the outside.

* * *

_

Shego shook her head, Why was everyone so silent and staring? Then she saw Kim and Cally… With Cally looking up at her.

"Hi." Cally said.

"Hi." Shego said. She couldn't tell her…it wasn't her place to tell her and Cally's parents certainly didn't want that added into the mix, so she'd keep the se-

"Cally." Michael said.

"Yes daddy?"

"Meet your mom… your birth mom." Then, suddenly, wide green eyes looked into fearful, guilt ridden ones.

To be continued.


	9. Hey Dad

Conversations with Dad.

See, a new chapter to Senior Year. Also, note that this chapter is A. short and B. more talky. IT was very difficult to write. For those of you who do not keep abreast with U.S. religious denominations, Cally's father is protestant (probably Baptist), but it's not part of a larger, organized church, although he probably did go to a seminary (or protestant equivelant).

Little of Kim in this, but after the next chapter, we may be getting back to Kim...and Bonny.

* * *

"_You're_, my _mom?_" Cally asked.

"Um…" Everything Shego had been intended to say ran gibbering out of her mind. "Yes." Cally didn't say anything, while Shego sat desperately still, hoping that Cally wouldn't turn and flee.

"Why…" Cally paused, "Why didn't you keep me? Didn't you love me?" Cally asked. "Is that why you gave me up?"

"_No-_ Um…" Shego paused, gulped and continued, "That wasn't it—I didn't know, if I had-" _You__ would have screwed her life up, in addition to your own?_ "See, when you were born they told me that you had, um, died, and-" Now Shego gripped her arm of the couch until it creaked.

_Oh God, please don't let me start crying, not in front of Cally. Do something, anything._

"BONG BONG BONG!" Someone was leaning on the doorbell. When Izumi went to answer the door, there was a pause. Then Izumi came back looking slightly put out.

"Cally…friends of yours." She said. "Something about one of our guests…"

"Um…." Cally looked over at Shego.

"Don't worry." Shego said, getting two words out, at least. "We can talk after you say hi to your friends." There, twelve words—she was completely under control. Izumi walked to the door with Cally, who made a motion for Kim to follow—Kim did, looking with concern over at Shego. Then there was an explosion of squeals.

_Why not.__ Kim's the hero. If they knew you were here it'd be an explosion of screams_.

Izumi came back, looking affectionately annoyed.

"Well, they'll be occupied until Kim hides under the bed, if I'm any guess." She looked over at Ron. "Do you?"

"Oh, no…. Kim's the public person." Ron said, grinning.

"_Oh Ron…."_ Kim's voice came, "I think I _need_ you…"

"On the other hand…" Andrea said. Ron looked desperate, but found no mercy, so he left…to another explosion of screams.

"I wonder…" Michael said. "If those two know how much of an impact they've had."

"Well, they stopped _us_ enough." Shego said. Michael shook his head.

"Not that sort of impact." Michael shrugged, "Too many of our 'role models' aren't heroes—they're thugs who happen to be shooting at our enemies, or made up Hollywood inventions. Kim and Ron aren't—they're _real_ heroes, with just enough flaws to make them human."

"Oh, yes, they have flaws." Kim's mother said. "Maybe I should…no, they saved the world. That's worth something, so I'll save the junior high school stories for _next_ time." Izumi and Andrea shared a League of Mothers look.

"Well I know that your daughter makes the PE teachers very, very happy." Izumi commented, "In the last several years, it's become _much_ easier to get girls to participate."

"That's definitely Cally." Michael chuckled, "She'll be a holy terror when she gets to high school…"

"She isn't now?" Izumi asked affectionately.

"I remember my own childhood, and therefore, _I_ shall not cast the first stone." Michael replied virtuously. Shego found herself smiling at that. With that, Izumi turned to Andrea and Shego.

"You'll be staying for dinner, right?" _That_ was an order, if Shego had ever heard one.

"Of course…" Andrea said. Shego nodded.

"I… But if you don't mind…" Shego paused, "I'll go out on the porch for a few minutes… I've been inside so many places I'm getting claustrophobic in my old age." Michael and Izumi shared an odd look and then nodded.

"Certainly." As Shego got up, she heard Andrea speaking to Izumi.

"I'll help, if you don't mind…since we dropped in unannounced."

"OK…"

"Besides, I want to find out if a completely unbiased source agrees with my daughter on the evils of meatloaf in the form of a brain…"

"Well, for the Legal Day open house I made a cake in the shape of the court house…"

* * *

Looking out from the porch, Shego saw that the sun was descending. They'd spent more time inside than she'd expected. Kim, Ron and the kids were still talking, which didn't bother Shego at all…because she had no idea what to say or do.

She'd expected evil step mothers, or some arrogant super rich man, or a cop who'd ticket his own mother…. But not _this_. Not a home for Cally.

_And why should I get involved in this? Half crazy mercenary… who has frothing fits…maybe it would be better…_

"Quarter for your thoughts," Michael said, coming outside and pulling out a cigarette. "Given inflation and all. He laughed softly, "Sorry about this, but sometimes I get the nicotine craving, and the first thing Izumi let _me_ know was that I _wasn't_ going to smoke those disgusting sticks inside the house."

"That's…" Shego paused. It really wasn't any of her business.

"Unsafe, to some extent—but I smoke about once a week…and in truth, I got kinda used to it during my rookie years, and as much as I cut back, I just can't stop entirely. "

"Rookie years."

"Yep—the first time a cop learns that sometimes you _really_ want to be able to light up something to get a smell out of your nose." He said. Shego paused, and then started talking.

"But I think it may have been for the best." Shego said. Michael didn't have to ask what she was referring to.

"Why?"

"Because I was a dumb sixteen year old." Shego said, unwillingly. She wished she could say something else, but… "To me, singing to a baby inside me was cool…do you think I would have done diapers and tantrums, and feeding her?"

"Don't' know—won't ever know." He said, "and if 'not being prime mommy material' was an excuse to lie and take children, it would be done a lot more…and be just as wrong." He paused, "I've seen excons that are the most loving parents, and rich people who have abused their children in ways I _still _don't want to remember. She was your daughter, not Hego's. If he'd convinced you, maybe…but he didn't. " Michael looked at her, "And in any case, I think that no matter what Hego _thought_ the reason was, it was more to avoid a scene—to keep _his_ vision of what life should be like intact." He paused, "He'll pay for that."

"You're…not going to do anything legal, are you?" Shego asked unwillingly. _Why am I doing this? I don't owe Hego anything._ But her mouth continued, "Hego _is_ her Uncle, after all…"

"Who got rid of his niece." Michael said quietly, "Who showed that he thought of her as an embarrassment, not a gift. Cally isn't dumb, and she'll realize that." He looked out at the neighborhood, under the red of the setting sun, "And that's his first price—his own flesh and blood, whether or not she chooses to forgive him, will know that he choose the easy path—the path that sacrificed her future with you." He paused, "And of course the rest of the family will also know it."

"Yeah…" Shego said.

"He'll bear some of the blame for you leaving." Michael looked over at Shego, holding her in his eyes, "Not all, of course. But some. Enough. It's hard to keep faith when it's been broken to you." Shego blinked.

_Nah._ But now that she thought about it, her obsession with contracts _had_ dated from a few years after she'd had Cally…

"So," Shego asked, "How did a police officer come to…" She indicated the church.

"What terrible tragedy in my life led to me putting down the gun and picking up the Cross?" Michael laughed, "Well, I can say many things, but one of 'em was that I'm older than Izumi, I don't like desk work, and that whole 'jump over four fences and three cars' thing was beginning to take some energy out of me." Some of the laughter deserted him.

"And yes, there…" He looked around, "There was a kid, Lamar, nice kid, bit of a thief, lousy home situation…" He shrugged, "You know the story. Had a possible shot at a sports scholarship, but he got busted on a B&E, which shot that down the tubes. After that…well, it _all_ went down the tubes for him." Michael turned around and looked at the church. "I do some prison work and he's there—he almost never stays out more than a week before he's back in—he has nightmares, he's thin, and he had more grey in his hair at 37 then I do at 56." Michael shook his head. "He isn't… wasn't a _bad_ kid, mind you—never hurt anyone, never tried armed robbery…but he is a criminal. Even if I could say, move heaven and earth to get him out…well, I don't know—he'd just be in again, because by now, it's pretty much the only life he knows."

"But it sounds like…" Shego started.

"I know—typical petty thief gone bad." Michael sighed, "But he had _so much_ potential. They all do. When their parents show up—if they're lucky and have good parents, they always bring those pictures of them at Kindergarten, getting the gold star for math…others aren't so lucky—the only thing they got from _their_ parents were beatings." He laughed, "So I decided to take my retirement and do something about it—this church had been hanging around since forever—it was a drug user hangout, so I bought it, fixed it up and started inviting people in."

"Here?"

"Neighborhood wasn't _quite_ this nice back then. The local gang decided to burn me out."

"They _did?_"

"Yep, three times—almost went broke buying wood to fix the place."

"What did you do?"

"Let 'em know that I wasn't leaving, but if they wanted to come in with a question instead of a Molotov, the door was open…eventually it worked…. Lots more to do, though, always is." Michael shook his head, "But not as bad as it seems—not a lot of people ever start out life saying: 'I'm gonna be a crook, or a child abuser'…. They just fall into it, sometimes wondering how the hell they got there." He laughed, "So if it's my place to help them have a meeting on the road to Damascus, well, that's my place."

"Yeah…" Shego muttered. _She'd _never exactly planned to become a sidekick to a super villain.

"So…how did you come to save your great arch-foe?" Michael asked.

"Oh, Go-sorry, that was something weird." Shego found herself telling Michael about the attack on Kim, her fall into addiction and madness, kidnapping her from the hospital, and finally their fun in Tokyo. When she'd finished, the sun was below the horizon.

"So after I finished with 'em in Tokyo…" She paused, "I figured that was it—but then my whole life went to pieces." This time she didn't hesitate. "Thanks God, thanks a lot."

"Well you should, sounds like something He'd pull." Michael said mediatitively. "In fact, I can tell you exactly why all this is happening."

"Oh?"

"Acts of charity are never _safe_, you understand. Not real charity. It's like real virtue—not something cuddly you keep up on the shelf until you want it. It'ssomething good…but dangerous all at the same time." He flicked an ember of the cigarette out into the now dark yard, the red spark falling like a dying star. "I'm not talking about some individual who gives money he can afford to lose. I'm talking about the man who gives the coat off his back—his _only_ coat, to someone in need, with no guarantee that he'll ever see another. Like you—helping your enemies, for no damn good reason. And then helping them _again_. Do that, say once, 'to hell with good judgment, I'm here to help…' well you have no way of knowing when or where that is going to end."

"And I don't have a choice?" Shego said, snarkily.

"Of course you do—turn around and reject the burden and gift." Michael said, no humor in his voice. "Lots of people take that route…too many."

"Oh." Shego paused, looking out at the lights of the neighborhood. "It must…get hard."

"Oh yeah…sometimes you can talk until you're blue in the face and people nod, smile, walk out and you can tell they kinda missed everything between 'hello' and 'goodbye'. But…there's progress." He gestured back into the house. "Cally's best girlfriend…. Her great-granddad was a grand dragon in the KKK… would cross the street to avoid an uppity nigger and than plan a visit to them later that night. Her Granddad was the biggest proponent of segregation …burned a cross once outside my granddads house … for a time. He repented of that before he died, thank God. But… _His_ son is a member of the PD, one of the most just men I know, and James's friend and partner, and his daughter and Cally are inseparable. It takes time…but if you keep to it, have faith, you're rewarded…. By being able to see you gave your children a better world than you grew up in." Shego looked around, and suddenly realized something…something that made her feel much better…better than she had for some time.

_Your daughter…_ Shego thought _Has no coward for a father, or a mother._ She'd dreaded finding her in some hellhole, or daughter to some obnoxious middle class twits who would walk to the other side of the street to avoid having to help. _Shego_ might make fun of Kimmie…but the lowest of the low were those cowards who bellowed what they would do…until they were given a chance.

Well Michael and Izumi would never walk down the other side of the street, she was certain of that. Neither would Cally. In fact…confronted by the Evil Shego, she wondered how many kids would have just wet themselves, or curled up in a ball…instead of throwing the ball at her head. Shego's lips twitched in an involuntary smile at that. She hadn't thought of that right then.

"So what do I do?" Shego asked.

"Right now? Eat dinner. Talk to your daughter." He paused, "Later? Solve that seizure problem and figure out what _you_ want to do." He grinned, "You're a good woman."

"I'm a super villainess." Shego muttered, "Like I told my brothers, I'm evil."

"Maybe not as evil as you think…and in any case, often there's a lot less distance between great saints and sinners than there is between great saints and those who refuse to take any stand." He laughed, "Of course, if Cally's any indication, you shouldn't measure yourself for wings just yet."

"Cally gets in trouble?"

"Trouble? No. Not trouble. Not unless you consider getting angry at some bullies who were a year ahead of her, beating them up and then chasing them all over the school trouble." Shego's eyes widened.

"You're kidding!"

"Nope, and she had the weeks suspension to show for it—my fault, I'm afraid."

"Why?" Michael's voice took on Cally's cadences. "'Daddy, I'm sorry, but you said never to lie so I _can't_ apologize to them. They were _mean_.'"

"Oh…_Oh…." _Shego found herself bursting into natural laughter for the first time in a long time….

TBC.


	10. Conclusion

Kim Possible: Senior Year, Conclusion

* * *

Dinner was…nice. Shego had to say, although she didn't have a lot of practice in sitting down with families. Cally's friends had gone home to their own parents, and Cally was practically bouncing out of her seat, between Kim and Shego. Cally veered between draining Kim's brain and Shego's brain. When Cally let them, the others got words in edgewise. Andrea fought to keep the grin off her face as Kim and Shego warded off the continual barrage.

"And that was when Killigan tried to turn all of Japan into a golf course to teach them a lesson for beating him at his own game." Kim sighed. "You know, maybe he would just be better off buying an island and turning _that_ into a golf course."

"Not going to happen, Kimmie." Shego said, "He feels that if they'd only give him another chance, he could beat Tiger Woods." Cally blinked.

"Why doesn't he?"

"Because one of his demands is that there be minefields on the greens." Ron interjected.

"What happened to him during the ah, chaos?" Izumi asked.

"He had a no holds barred, last man standing golf game with his neighbors." Kim said. "I guess he figured it might be his last game…" She shrugged. "It's kinda scary—in some ways the loonies handled it better than everyone else did."

"maybe if you're already crazy it couldn't make you any more crazy?" Cally asked.

"That's…." Dr. Possible paused, "Entirely possible—not that I think anyone wants a chance to check their data!"

Too soon, Dinner was over.

* * *

Too soon because now Cally was dragging Shego up to her room. Shego didn't whine. Supervillains, or mercenaries did not let on they had no idea what to say, and desperately wanted someone better equipped (read: anyone) to follow them up. Shego started running through what so say…and then they got to Cally's room and Shego could only say one thing.

"A door poster… you have a _door poster_ of Kimmie?" Shego said, feeling the emotion of "Their just ain't no justice" come over her.

"Isn't it great?"

"Um… yeah." Cally looked at Shego, as Shego was looking around the room. KP bed spread, screen saver…

"How much is she losing…." Shego asked herself.

"What?"

"Oh, it's just that Kimmie doesn't get paid for any of this."

"But she's a hero." Cally asked, "Should she?" Shego censored the first thing that came to her mind and thought hard. Then she grinned.

"Cally….you get an allowance?"

"Yeah…"

"And you do chores?"

"Yeah." A frown accompanied that.

_Bingo._

"Well how would you feel if you did chores with no allowance?"

"Bleh."

"Uh-huh… and see, people don't' want to pay Kimmie for a lot of stuff." She paused, and with a mental groan, continued, "Not that she'd charge for _helping_ people…but are bedsheets really helping?" Cally thought about it.

"Mom said, those sheets were really expensive." She said, and Shego bet there was an entire story of wearing down her mother's resistance in that single sentence. Still…

_And I think maybe Dr. Possible should convince Kim to retain a lawyer._

Cally looked up at Shego and face looking very serious, spoke up with a question of hers.

"Kim said you were a hero again." She paused, "Why?"

_Well, because some lunatic was about to destroy the worl-no._ Shego paused, and thought about it. Monkey Fist _hadn't_ been the reason. If it was anything, it was helping Kim and Ron, so she'd start there.

"I… wasn't really a hero, but Kimmie, well she'd been hurt pretty bad, and Ron was the one who she needed, and so…." Shego paused, "I kinda helped them on their way to Japan."

_"Japan?"_

"Great place, Cally—you should go there some time." Shego said.

"I could?"

"Well…" She paused, "I think your mom and dad might have something to say about it.'

"What about you? Aren't you kinda my mom?" Shego suddenly looked down into Cally's green eyes and realized something.

_Mouse trapped. Cally's thinking that if mom and dad say no…well now she has a third option._ She was _definitely_ Shego's birth child.

"I…" Shego paused, "Let's work on getting to know each other first." She laughed, "Because if I'm kinda your mom, I've missed a _lot_ of Christmasses."

"That's ok." Cally replied.

_No. It isn't. _Shego thought, but she stomped on it. What was in the past, was past. Then, like most kids her age, Cally was off on a different tangent.

"Aren't you going to fight evil with Kim? I mean, you all could do it and-hey! You're old, so you could drive them!"

"Kim has a permit now…and….hey!" Shego suddenly mimicked Cally's tone, "Did you just say I was old?" Cally looked startled, but rallied gamely.

"how old are you?"

"Just turned twenty five." Shego said. Cally blinked.

"Wow, that's younger than any of the mom's at school—I mean in my class."

"Ah." Shego said, "But I any case, I think Kim and Ron can do the hero thing…besides, I'm not really…ready for it right now."

"Why not?"

"Well, I got hurt by Monkey Fist." Shego said, "And so now, if I get really over excited, I have a seizure." Cally blinked, "A fit." Shego filled in, "I flop around, twitch, faint, and it's really hugely funny for everyone around me." She sighed, and looked over at the window, when she felt a smaller hand take hers.

"Are you scared?" Cally asked. Shego didn't even think of lying.

"Oh yeah…down to my socks." She sighed, "But Dr. Possible has some ideas… and if they work…"

"Will you be a hero?" Cally asked. Shego looked at her and hoped she wasn't about to get thrown out of the room.

"I don't know Cally… I won't be a villain… you don't' have to worry about that…but a hero…." She paused, and thought hard. "I think I'll have to work on just being good before I can go for anything else."

"Oh." Cally said, not disappointed, evidently, but thinking hard.

"But what about Team Go?" Cally asked, "Can't you rejoin them?" Shego quickly turned away from Cally so she couldn't see the grimace that pulled her lips back in a rictus of a smile… and after thinking faster than she had in a long time, Shego turned back.

"We…had some arguments. I don't know if I'd be able to go back…"

"Because you turned ev- I mean became a villainess?" Cally asked. Shego shook her head.

"Nah… that'd be easy…there was other stuff."

"Adult stuff?" Cally asked.

"m?"

"You sounded like my teacher when she says we're too young to understand."

"May…no." Shego paused, "Cally, I can't say everything, but it's just…what would you do if someone you really, really, trusted lied to you, on a big thing."

"I'd be angry…"

"Yeah…and would you trust them again?"

"No… is what they did a secret?"

"For now." Shego said. "I need…. To think about it for a while." She grinned, "What, looking to score autographs?" Cally giggled and went on to another subject while Shego sighed in internal relief. Moments later…

"So, my turn." Shego said, "Tell me about _your_ life."

* * *

It was odd, Shego later reflected. Normally, she'd rather have red hot pokers put in her eye than listen to some eight year old… but she was entranced by everything Cally had to say. It was important, desperately so, that she hear some of what she'd never see with her own eyes. Cally's triumphs, and her failures… not to many of the last, because even when she'd broken her arm riding a horse she'd been right back up on the animal the next day.

_Funny thing is, she **isn't** me at that age—I think I was quieter, until the comet came along to shake things up. _Maybe it was because she didn't have as many brothers. The conversation continued on, until Shego noticed that Cally's eyes were drooping, despite her best attempts to keep them open. She grinned.

"Sleepy?"

"No…" Cally said, in the process yawning.

"Uh-huh… I think you are… I'll head on back down and tell Izumi."

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Cally asked.

"No…" Shego said, "I have to go back to the hospital….but I will come back…if…" She paused, feeling butterflies in her stomach, "If it's alright with you."

"Oh, it is!" Cally said, waking up enough to give a delighted squeal, not noticing Shego's sigh of relief.

Later, the four visitors were at the door. Izumi had gone up and checked, and came back down grinning.

"Out like a light—just got her shoes off." She smiled, "I'll let her sleep in tomorrow…it's past her bed time."

"Oh." Shego started, and Izumi shook her head.

"Don't worry…it's ok." She paused, "You _are_ coming back."

"Yeah… but I've got to try and get my head fixed first." Shego said. Andrea nodded.

"And I have some ideas—baby came up with some promising approaches, and the neurology lab _dearly_ wants to get their hands on you."

"Oh goody…lab rat time."

"Not at all, Shego." Andrea said, "You wouldn't believe all the paperwork we have to fill out for lab rats…you're actually much easier to work on."

"And for this I gave up villainy." Shego said, as everyone laughed.

"Seriously." Michael said, "Come back—not just for Cally, but for all of us. You _are_ part of this family now." Shego nodded.

* * *

Later, in the car…Shego thought about that. Family was something other people had, not her…but now.

Were the Possible's family? They'd let her into their house. Ron certainly acted like it, although right now both she and Andrea were ignoring the noises from the back seat. But then, she got the feeling that Ron was…more forgiving than just about anyone she'd ever met.

But Kim's mother had no reason to be forgiving…she'd tried to take out her daughter on more than one occasion and Shego couldn't see a single good deed making up for all of that.

But Andrea hadn't shown any sign of distrust. And Cally's family, Michael and Izumi at least, had accepted her…

_But what do I **do** with this?_ If her days of being the international criminal were over…she really wasn't Shego any more.

Was she?

"Naco for your thoughts?" Ron suddenly interrupted her, from the back seat.

"One Naco?"

"Of course." Ron said, "That way I can have all the others you'll buy."

"You're giving me _one_ Naco from an order _I_ buy?"

"Well if I didn't, how could _I_ eat them?" Shego burst into laughter. OK, one secret solved. She'd always known there were depths to Ron, but there was another reason he was right for Kimmie. He made people laugh, without having to stomp on someone else in the process.

"OK, so what Am I thinking, since you weild the ancient forces of mankind."

"Mmmmm…." Ron paused, "The magic eight ball says right now your wondering about what you're going to do now that you can't be a villainess anymore, and you're really puzzled why people haven't been screaming and running for the hills, you like your kid but really don't know where to go from here…. Aaaaaannnnnnddddd, you wonder what happened to your nice predictable life and sometimes blame us."

Shego blinked.

And blinked again.

Then she turned to Andrea.

"So…he's a telepath?"

"It might explain many things." The doctor replied.

"What about flunking tests?" Kim asked.

"Hey, I have morals!" Ron said.

"Nope, not a telepath, just lucky." Shego said.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed. Kim laughed.

"Got you there…" She said.

"From both sides?" Ron asked.

"Well, Ron." Kim said, "You have to have more self control… and I know if you could read minds, you wouldn't be using any self control." At that point, Dr. Possible spoke up.

"Yes, well when we all get home, Kimmie, we have some work to do."

"What mom?" Kim asked, not noticing (since she couldn't see it) the somewhat…predatory expression on her mothers face.

"Well, Jonathon has brought some white noise generators from the lab, and he wants us to install them around your room."

_White noise generators, why would dad want to install them? The only thing they stop is… _

Shego's laugh was _very _understanding.

"Oh, the kids are keeping dad up at night?" Kim suddenly started to turn very, very red.

"Only one of them…"

"Hmmm…well Ron's the ninja… _Kimmie... _I didn't know you were a screamer…"

"_Shego!" _Kim said in horror. "I am not a scre- I mean that isn't the thing you say…_Ron, say something!"_ She said, turning to him. Ron looked at her and nodded.

"She doesn't scream, Shego."

"See? Wait! Ron, that' wasn't what I wanted you to-"

"It's more like a lionesses roar." At this point, Kim resorted to ancient tactics long practiced by ostriches, and grabbed a pillow and used it to hide her face, after whacking Ron with it once or twice. A muffled "Mom!" escaped it. Andrea paused, and started to speak.

"Kimmie, after not sending you to military school and shooting Ron into a black hole, you don't expect us to give up any chance to tweak you…."

"My family is evil…" Came the moan in return.

"No, _I'm _evil." Shego said, "Your family is just smart…and you do know that if you spontaneously combust you'll lose the deposit on the car?" Ron looked at Kim's ears, noting their color.

"Oh man…should I use the fire extinguisher?" Then he found himself looking into a pair of snapping green eyes.

"Do and die, Ronald."

"Ok… I won't. Do I live?" Kim tried, she really tried to keep her evil expression up…but then Ron started trying to imitate her "puppy dog pout"….and she lost it, exploding in laughter as she leaned into Ron. The muffled giggles continued on for a while, and Shego, in the front seat, turned to Kim's mother.

"We're leaving in the morning, right?"

"Yes."

"They _do_ have a separate room, right?"

"Five rooms away…"

"Good. I don't have any ear plugs." Shego grinned, "And something tells me they wouldn't work anyway."

"I don't think so…" Looking out the other window, Shego sighed.

"What?" Andrea asked.

"So, if I get my head fixed… then what?" Shego asked.

"Then you get up the next day." Andrea answered. Shego suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face.

"Get up the next day…with no idea what I'm going to do." The dark haired woman smiled. "Do you know how long it's been since I _didn't_ know what I was going to do?" She smiled, "Well, maybe it's time to try something new…" She didn't say anything, and then breathed on the window, seeing the condensation form. A single slim finger reached out and wrote out CALLY on the window.

_OK, Life… I got the hint. We'll try something different now. _Time to try and drop some of the baggage. Whatever had or hadn't been done to her, Shego had made the decisions to become what she was.

That was fine. But she could make other decisions, and become something different from what she had been. A small chuckle escaped her, unheard by the other passengers. She'd spent most of her life at villain school and it looked like she might be starting a whole new grade.

Fine. Shego was always good at cramming.

End.

* * *

And thus we come to the end of this book—note that not the end of the story, but this part was getting rather long. Stay tuned for the next two parts, Senior Year: Shego, which will cover Shego's numerous adventures, and Kim Possible: Seniors which will cover Kim, Ron and all the Middleton gang's last year of high school. 


End file.
